Healing Arts
Switzerland
Art / Neuroscience / Health
About
Launching in 2026, Healing Arts Switzerland is an independent Swiss non-profit initiative developing a year-long, evidence-informed programme at the intersection of art, neuroscience, and health.
The initiative brings together artists, researchers, health professionals, cultural institutions, and communities to foster interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration.
Rooted in scientific understanding and community engagement, Healing Arts Switzerland explores how artistic and cultural practices can meaningfully support physical, mental, and social wellbeing when integrated responsibly within health, care, and public contexts.
As part of the year-long programme, Healing Arts Switzerland will culminate in November with a dedicated one-week gathering, combining conference sessions, artistic performances, workshops, and public talks, designed as a space for reflection, dialogue, and the development of future collaborations in arts and health.
THE PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
An Ongoing Journey
Healing Arts Switzerland begins in 2026 as a long-term initiative, conceived to evolve year by year, continuously exploring the intersection of healing, art, and society.
Spaces for Exchange
Each programme cycle brings together talks, workshops, and artistic performances that create open spaces for dialogue, learning, and embodied experience.
A Collaborative Ecosystem
The initiative is built as an open ecosystem, connecting artists, practitioners, cultural institutions, academic partners, and local communities across borders and disciplines.
Cities in Conversation
Healing Arts Switzerland unfolds across multiple cities - Geneva, Zurich, Basel, and Venice - allowing each location to host, shape, and reinterpret the programme in its own context.
Moments of Convergence
Each programme year culminates in a conference and festival, gathering participants and audiences to reflect, share outcomes, and celebrate the collective journey.
Global Movement, Rooted in Local Context
Health and wellbeing challenges cannot be addressed in isolation. They call for approaches that bring together science and culture, research and lived experience, global knowledge and local context.
Healing Arts Switzerland is conceived as such a platform – one that explores how artistic and cultural practices can meaningfully support wellbeing when grounded in scientific understanding and shaped through collaboration.
Rooted in Switzerland’s cultural landscape and in a research environment, the initiative fosters dialogue across disciplines and sectors, engaging artists, scientists, health professionals and communities around shared questions around health, care, and human flourishing.
Healing Arts Switzerland is not simply a series of events, but an ongoing process of exchange and exploration, where creative practice meets evidence, and where new forms of collaboration can emerge.
Rooted in Switzerland’s cultural landscape and in a research environment, the initiative fosters dialogue across disciplines and sectors, engaging artists, scientists, health professionals and communities around shared questions around health, care, and human flourishing.
WHY HEALING ARTS
Across research, healthcare, and cultural practice, there is growing recognition that artistic and cultural experiences can meaningfully support emotional resilience, social connection, and wellbeing. Healing Arts Switzerland exists to explore this intersection responsibly, drawing on both creative practice and scientific understanding.
Healing Arts Switzerland is not simply a series of events, but an ongoing process of exchange and exploration, where creative practice meets evidence, and where new forms of collaboration can emerge.
Why the Arts Matter for Health
A growing body of scientific research, including work supported by the World Health Organization, demonstrates that engagement with the arts can positively influence mental and physical health, whether integrated into everyday life or delivered through structured artistic and therapeutic programmes.
Further evidence shows that artistic and cultural engagement can contribute to prevention, health promotion, care, and treatment, supporting wellbeing across the lifespan and across diverse health contexts.
Research indicates that arts engagement can support:
- Prevention and health promotion through social connection and emotional development
- Care and treatment in mental health, neurological, and chronic conditions
- Quality of life in caregiving and palliative contexts
Join an event. Create one together.
Let’s Organize an Event Together
Over the years, we have organized and contributed to numerous events at the intersection of healing, art, and dialogue.
We are open to co-creating new formats - from intimate workshops to public talks and artistic gatherings. Whether you have an idea, a space, or a community, we would be happy to explore how we can work together.
We support concept development, speaker curation, and event organization.
