Arts for Health

What Arts for Health does

Arts for Health operates as an informal advocacy, networking, and educational organization centered on the intersection of arts, health, and social change, rather than as a commercial enterprise. The entity is materially identical to the North West Arts and Health Network, which Clive Parkinson facilitated between 2006 and 2020, and to a personal blog (artsforhealthmmu.blogspot.com) that Parkinson produced weekly from 2009 to 2023 to document regional creative health activity. The organization served a horizontal community spanning NHS workers, healthcare practitioners, community organizations, people with lived experience of illness, neurodivergent communities, and addiction recovery populations across North West England, with no commercial products, no disclosed revenue, no paid customers, and no pricing structure. Its primary outputs were convening events, knowledge-sharing content, and thought-leadership commentary on the evolving Creative Health movement.

The organization was originally hosted within Manchester Metropolitan University's Arts for Health department, from which Parkinson succeeded founder Peter Senior. In 2017, Parkinson co-established the Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC) to formalize regional creative health infrastructure. Parkinson also served as a North West regional champion for the national Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA) and was part of the National Alliance for Arts and Health, and holds an honorary professorship at the University of Manchester in Creative Health and Social Change. There is no underlying technology platform beyond a standard Blogger-hosted blog; no APIs, no proprietary systems, no software products, and no AI capabilities are present or claimed.

The business model is non-commercial: the entity generates no revenue, has no funding rounds, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed ownership structure beyond founder-led operation. Marketing and distribution occurred solely through the blog, an email newsletter ([email protected]), Parkinson's personal Instagram, and in-person events. The network's facilitation formally ended in 2020, and Parkinson left Manchester Metropolitan University in June 2021 following a cancer diagnosis. The blog remains live as an archive of postings over the 2009-2023 period, with only sporadic memorial or reflective posts since. As of the most recent input, the organization is effectively dormant as an active entity, persisting only as a historical content archive.

Name

Arts for Health

Legal name

North West Arts and Health Network

Website

https://artsforhealthmmu.blogspot.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Arts for Health is an informal advocacy and networking organization that, via the North West Arts and Health Network and a personal blog (2009-2023), connected arts, health, and social change practitioners across North West England. It is a non-commercial, founder-led entity with no revenue, no products, and no paying customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts and Health Advocacy

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (7115)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Culture Service/Support Organizations (Networks, Advocacy, Capacity Building) (BPAGAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cultural, Arts & Humanities Community Education (Museums/Arts Councils) (EDAAAFAD), Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)

Keywords

• Arts health advocacy
• Creative health network
• Community arts wellbeing
• Arts social change
• Health inequalities arts

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Arts for Health was an informal advocacy, networking, and educational organization focused on the intersection of arts, health, and social change. It facilitated the North West Arts and Health Network from 2006 to 2020 and operated a blog (active 2009–2023) that served as an archive of events, opportunities, and thought leadership on the Creative Health movement in the North West of England.

Product overview

Arts for Health is not a commercial product company but rather a personal blog and archive documenting the North West Arts and Health Network, facilitated by Clive Parkinson from 2006 to 2020, with the blog active from 2009 to 2023. The content serves as an archive of postings about arts, health, and social change, particularly focusing on the Creative Health movement in the North West region of England. No commercial products or services are offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC): An institute established by Clive Parkinson in 2017 with like-minded people across Greater Manchester to support the creative health community.

Products and services

• North West Arts and Health Network
• Arts for Health Blog (artsforhealthmmu.blogspot.com)
• Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClive Parkinson served as North West regional champion for the CHWA, which is a national infrastructure organization for the culture, health and wellbeing sector in England.
• National Alliance for Arts and HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational alliance that Clive Parkinson was part of for many years to support and nurture the arts and health field.
• Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished in 2017 by Clive Parkinson alongside colleagues across Greater Manchester as an institute to serve the creative health community.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Arts Council England: National development agency for the arts in England, with significant investment in arts and health. Sits in the same policy and funding ecosystem that Arts for Health operated within.
• LIME (Leeds Institute of Medical Education) - Arts & Health: University-hosted arts and health initiatives in the UK, comparable in academic anchoring and arts-health research/practice integration. Represents the broader university-based arts and health model that Arts for Health originally operated within at MMU.
• Wellcome Trust: Major UK health research funder that has explicitly backed the Creative Health agenda. Comparable as a stakeholder/funder in the same ecosystem, not as a direct service provider.

Direct peers

• Live Music Now: UK charity delivering music interventions in health, care, and community settings, including work with dementia, neurodivergence, and recovery populations. Overlaps with Arts for Health's arts-in-healthcare remit and use cases.
• Create (London): UK charity delivering creative workshops for people facing social and health challenges. Directly comparable in mission (arts for health and social change) and target populations including marginalized communities, NHS settings, and wellbeing contexts.
• Aesop (arts and health): UK-based arts and health consultancy and network operating in the same practitioner advocacy and knowledge-sharing niche that Arts for Health occupied in the North West.
• Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA): National infrastructure body for the culture, health and wellbeing sector in England. Arts for Health's founder served as its North West regional champion, making it the closest direct peer and overlapping convener for the same constituency.
• National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH): UK national body advancing creative health, with close ties to the Arts for Health network through the Creative Health movement. Comparable in mission, advocacy function, and target stakeholders.
• Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC): Institute established by Clive Parkinson in 2017 to serve the Greater Manchester creative health community. Operates in the same geography and remit as Arts for Health and is effectively a successor/sister organization.

Regional players

• Arts & Health South West: Regional arts and health network serving the South West of England. Closest structural analogue to the North West Arts and Health Network, operating as a regional convener and advocacy body for arts and health practitioners.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/clivebparkinson
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/arts-for-health

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Arts for Health