London Arts and Health were incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Clive Parkinson this week.
Clive Parkinson was the Director of Arts for Health and Reader in Arts, Health and Social Justice at Manchester Metropolitan University until July 2021. He had been closely involved with arts and health developments in the UK, Europe, Australia and Japan and was central to strategic developments and practical activity in this field. Over 2011 he facilitated a series of participatory workshops across the North West of the UK exploring the impact of the arts on wider society and developing the Manifesto for Arts & Health. Between 2012 and 2018 he was a director of the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing and was closely involved with the development of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health & Wellbeing to which the Alliance provided the secretariat. Since its inception, and only until recently he had been the north west regional champion for arts and health on the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance. In 2022 the University of Manchester made him honorary chair of Creative Health & Social Change.
In 2021 he wrote A Social Glue, a report for Greater Manchester Combined Authority which explores the potential of culture and the arts across the city region and setting out some tangible recommendations informing The Greater Manchester Creative Health Strategy published in November 2022.
Clive lived with Multiple Myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, which he describes as an ‘inconsiderate lodger’, but increasingly – and regardless of a difficult prognosis – he has found his curiosity and imagination piqued by the increased awareness of his own mortality. His keynote for the Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference 2021 explored his ruminations on power, inequality and sustainability through his experience of treatment – and his walks into the hills and woods behind his home town.
Clive will be remembered for being an incredible pioneer in the field, but also, for being a gentle and curious man. He will be greatly missed.
This quotation is from a blog that was originally shared as part of the opening event for Creativity & Wellbeing Week, on 20 May 2024.
Read more about Clive’s work here.