Creative Lives on Air

A new report has been published on the role of local radio in supporting messaging about creativity and positive mental health. Robin Simpson shares its findings.

Creative expression is a fundamental part of being human; coming together to create, have fun, share experiences and support each other can have a positive impact on our physical and emotional well-being. But the everyday creativity that people practice with family and friends in local communities still doesn’t have a high enough public profile to ensure the message that creativity is good for you becomes widely understood.

In 2020, just as the world shifted entirely due to the pandemic, Nick Ewbank Associates (NEA) began a two-year evaluation of the flagship initiative Creative Lives On Air. It explored how a partnership between BBC local radio and a national sector support organisation – Creative Lives – could improve levels of creative participation, particularly in areas of socio-economic deprivation.

NEA’s previous evaluation demonstrated consistently positive effects on the well-being of participants with the findings published in Public Health, a journal of the Royal Society for Public Health in August 2021. The new NEA report Creative Lives On Air: Phase Two Report, published this week, reflects on a period when the project played an unexpected and increasingly important role in supporting people in communities across the country during lockdown.

Over the past two years, we have witnessed both a rise in people listening to local radio and an outpouring of creative responses to the pandemic. NEA’s new report concludes: ‘The project has demonstrated good ability to reach into isolated people’s homes through BBC local radio. Through surfacing and supporting everyday creativity, Creative Lives On Air may have a role to play in helping to reduce health inequalities.’

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