Two years of Arts Council money in Medway: 17 projects, 200 sessions, 5,000 people, £90,000 more raised. Public event at Rochester Corn Exchange, 16 September.

A two-year experiment in whether singing, storytelling and drama can make Medway healthier has published its numbers. The Medway Creative Health Place Partnership says it has run 17 projects, delivered more than 200 creative sessions and reached more than 5,000 people since 2024 (Medway Council, 10 September 2026).

It marks the two years with a public event at the Rochester Corn Exchange on Wednesday 16 September, 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Residents, practitioners and organisations are all invited.

What the money bought

The partnership was set up in 2024 with a grant from Arts Council England’s Place Partnership Fund. The council’s figures for the two years:

  • 17 creative health projects supported
  • more than 200 creative sessions delivered
  • more than 5,000 people reached
  • more than £90,000 in further investment secured for creative health work in Medway
  • more than 40 artists supported, with professional development for practitioners
Six figures from two years of the Medway Creative Health Place Partnership: a £400,000 Arts Council England grant, 17 projects, more than 200 sessions, more than 5,000 people reached, more than £90,000 in further investment and more than 40 artists supported
Two years of the Medway Creative Health Place Partnership, as the council records them. Graphic by Medway Live.

One figure does not agree between sources. Medway Council puts the original grant at £400,000. Creative Medway, which sits in the consortium that runs the programme, puts it at a “£406,000.00 grant from Arts Council England’s Place Partnership Fund” on its own programme page. Neither has been corrected, and the difference is small, but the council’s round number is the one being quoted.

Creative Medway’s page also sets out a part of the spend the council’s release does not mention: an Evolve strand funding eight practitioners up to £10,000 each to plan, deliver and evaluate a creative health project of their own.

The projects, and where they ran

The five named in the council’s account are all recognisable places rather than abstractions:

  • The Lullaby Project (Live Music Now) paired parents with professional musicians to write personalised songs for their babies, aimed at confidence and parent-child bonding
  • HEARD! (Ideas Test) ran site-specific community activity in Brompton and Luton, including Beatboxing Bins, the Brompton Halloween Trail and Murder For Breakfast
  • Act Up (Icon Theatre) worked with young people experiencing isolation, through drama and performance
  • Messy Play and Craft & Chat (Nucleus Arts) ran weekly sessions aimed at loneliness and social isolation
  • Once Upon a Time in Luton, delivered through Medway Libraries, brought schoolchildren, care-home residents and local artists together to write new stories about the neighbourhood

The consortium behind them includes Medway and Swale Health and Care Partnership, Creative Medway, the University of Kent, the National Centre for Creative Health and three Medway Council teams: Culture and Libraries, Public Health and Public Housing.

The University of Kent’s involvement is the research end. The council says the programme worked with the university “on research exploring the role of creativity in health and wellbeing”, and that it demonstrated “significant health and wellbeing improvements across participants”. No study, dataset or measure is named in the release, so the size of that improvement is not something a resident can currently check.

What the council says

Cllr Nina Gurung, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for heritage, culture and leisure, framed the event as a hinge rather than a finish.

“Over the past two years, the programme has demonstrated how creative activity can improve wellbeing, strengthen resilience and help people feel more connected to their communities,” Cllr Gurung said. “Whilst this event will rightly celebrate the successes of the last two years, importantly it’s a chance to bring together people from across culture, health, and community partners and spark discussion about the next chapter for creative health in Medway.”

What the release does not say is whether there is money for a next chapter. The Arts Council grant covered two years from spring 2024. Neither the council’s announcement nor Creative Medway’s page names a successor fund.

What it means for you

  • The event is on Wednesday 16 September, 2.30pm to 4.30pm, at the Rochester Corn Exchange. RSVP by email to mina.reidsouthall@medway.gov.uk. The council’s release does not state a booking deadline or a capacity.
  • It is not only for people in the arts. The council says residents are invited alongside practitioners and organisations, and the afternoon includes a panel with health, cultural and voluntary sector representatives, plus a chance to try activities rather than only hear about them.
  • If you took part in one of the 17 projects, this is where the learning gets shared. Artists and organisations including Paramjot Kaur, Kate Mechedou, Live Music Now and Icon Theatre are speaking about what they delivered.
  • More of what is on across the towns is in our things to do in Medway guide.

Sources