The new funding is £846,757 and will allow the centre to continue its work in a number of areas, making an internationally leading contribution to critical scholarship, research and practice in the field of Arts and Health.  

The centre is taking an incremental approach to the six-year plan, launching a programme of interconnected projects in the first two years, building on pilot work already conducted that will act as a springboard to pursue an ambitious plan of external funding bidding activity in years three and four. 

The key work streams from 2020 to 2022 are:

1. A national initiative to map the provision of singing for health projects across England, with special reference to the Covid-19 pandemic. 
2. Work with 'Sing to Beat Parkinson’s' in the evaluation and development of their work. 
3. A national initiative to develop and evaluate singing groups for people with a learning disability. 
4. An exploration of the health and wellbeing dimensions of community music festivals. 

The Oak Foundation is open to the Centre exploring other art forms and demographics. Therefore, these projects will be expanded and enriched by new areas of work investigating the impact of a range of participatory arts such as Applied Theatre, Puppetry and Digital Arts on a larger group of individuals and communities including children and young people in healthcare.

The Sidney De Haan Centre recently welcomed Professor Persephone Sextou to her role as Centre Director. Persephone is Professor in Applied Theatre and Wellbeing, and was the Founder and Director of the Community and Applied Drama Laboratory (CADLab) at Newman University. She is also Adjunct to Griffith University’s Centre for Social and Cultural Research in Australia.

Professor Persephone Sextou brings a wealth of experience and skills to the Sidney De Haan Centre, and the team is delighted to be working with her.

"Sidney De Haan is delighted to have secured a grant from Oak Foundation until 2026 to continue supporting individuals and communities’ health and wellbeing through the arts, co-production and social prescribing," she said.

"With funding from Oak Foundation, the Centre is expanding its portfolio of applied arts-based activities by including participatory singing, theatre, drama, storytelling, puppetry and digital arts for a wide range of age groups starting from children with mental ill/health to elderly populations with long-lasting conditions. Oak Foundation also supports the Arts & Health Repository at SDH, a unique database of grey literature with an international recognition."