Event highlights
Lviv became a meeting point for the Ukrainian arts and health sector this summer, as Healing Arts Ukraine brought together a national school on trauma-informed art practices and an Arts and Health Congress and Showcase, spotlighting how creative practices can support recovery, resilience and mental health in a country living through war.
Running from 23 to 30 June, the initiative opened with a 4-day summer school for approximately 35 students from across Ukraine, focused on using the arts as a tool for recovery and healing in trauma-informed practice. It was followed by a 4-day Congress and Showcase (27–30 June), which brought together over 100 attendees – including representatives of government and international institutions as well as professionals from the health care, education and cultural sectors – to explore, in practical terms, how arts-based approaches can be built into Ukraine’s health and psychosocial support systems.
Arts as part of the health response
Healing Arts Ukraine is delivered by Art Therapy Force, as part of the global Healing Arts campaign led by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and launched by WHO/Europe as part of the “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership” programme, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood. It brings together a national coalition of partners working across culture, health care, education and policy, including the Lviv City Council, LME Lviv Radio, Cultural Strategy Institute, UNBROKEN Rehabilitation Centre and King’s College London.
The Congress programme combined keynote talks, panel discussions and working sessions on subjects such as mapping arts and health assets across Ukraine, “arts on prescription” and complementary practice in health systems, as well as cross-sector policy development. Sessions drew on international experience – from the United Kingdom’s National Academy for Social Prescribing to Culture Action Europe and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture – alongside contributions from Ukrainian clinicians, artists, researchers and local government.
Alongside the Congress, a public showcase led by 17 organizations and attended by approximately 5000 people brought arts and health practice into the city itself, with performances, an audio walk, an exhibition conversation, a concert on the terrace of the UNBROKEN Centre featuring veterans and the Lviv National Philharmonic and INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra, as well as a film screening – each illustrating a different facet of how creative practice is supporting recovery for military personnel, veterans and civilians.
Discussions over the 4 days fed into recommendations for Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity, and for the relevant departments of the Lviv City Council, on integrating arts-based approaches into health care and psychosocial support.
Part of a wider regional effort
The Congress builds on the international launch of Healing Arts Ukraine, held at a roundtable event at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 9 March 2026, and forms part of WHO/Europe’s broader work on culture and health under the “Health Resilience in the Eastern Partnership” programme. Funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood, the 3-year programme supports Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to strengthen health workforce capacity and expand mental health systems, including through collaboration with the arts and culture sector.
By combining a training programme for practitioners with a congress convening decision-makers and a public showcase reaching residents of Lviv, Healing Arts Ukraine reflects a wider ambition of the programme: building sustainable, national capacity for arts and health work that can outlast any single event.