Daisy Fancourt with Phil Leonard: Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health

Professor Daisy Fancourt, an award-winning scientist and world-leading expert on the relationship between the arts and health, discusses the life-enhancing power of creativity in an event hosted by Phil Leonard. Her recent Sunday Times bestselling book, Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.

Drawing on decades of research, Fancourt reveals how something as simple as listening to music, visiting a gallery, reading a novel, singing, dancing or making art can have profound effects on our physical and mental wellbeing. The evidence suggests that engaging with the arts can reduce stress and anxiety, strengthen social connections, improve our mood and resilience, and may even help us live longer.

In Art Cure, Fancourt argues that the arts should be recognised alongside diet, sleep, exercise and nature as a vital, but often overlooked, fifth pillar of health. She explores how we can incorporate more creativity into everyday life and gives us the tools to write our own ‘arts prescription’.