Art at the Start: Exploring the availability, accessibility and relational benefits of early years art provision in the UK: UKRI Mobilising Community Assets to Combat Health Inequalities Report

Art at the Start have been offering arts therapy and messy play sessions to promote the health and wellbeing of parents and 0- to 3-year-old infants in art galleries across Scotland, supported by the Mobilising Community Assets to Combat Health Inequalities scheme (see Art at the Start: Creative community intervention for perinatal and infant mental health report 2023).

We mobilise the established health benefits of art to support families to develop healthy relationships with their infants. Making art together offers a safe space for parents to respond sensitively to their infants' aims and experiences, and for infants to see the positive mark they make on the world. Across 2023, the UKRI Mobilising community assets to combat health inequalities scheme funded Art at the Start to form a consortium bringing together academics working in psychology, art therapy, arts & health, arts education and midwifery with a range of nonacademic stakeholders, including families, family arts and support organisations, arts galleries and NHS infant mental health teams, and project partners from the government and third sector policy landscape. The roles in our consortium are shown in the graphic below (with individuals listed in the
acknowledgments section).

A central aim of our consortium was to consider availability and accessibility of art based supports for early years relationships, in order to inform future service development. Led by a community parent researcher and a participation officer from a charity which supports parents, we evaluated the experiences and needs of families who may benefit from the health and wellbeing outcomes of early years art access. Alongside this, our research fellow mapped existing art-based opportunities for families with young children across the UK, identifying examples of diverse practice. This report summarises our motivations and findings, providing a useful snapshot of UK provision of art-based supports for 0- to 3-year-old children in 2023.