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How can we turn evidence into action?

Overall, building the evidence on wellbeing in culture and sport will help to understand what works for wellbeing, for whom, when and where.

Music

There is a strong case for local authorities, trusts and foundations to continue supporting of music and singing activities which enhance and maintain subjective wellbeing in adults.

There is a particularly strong case to support participatory music and
singing programmes which can help to maintain wellbeing and prevent
isolation, depression and mental ill health in older adult age groups.

Trusts and foundations, or any organisation funding music and singing projects, can play an important role in developing the evidence base.

This can be done by supporting and evaluating activities where there
is less evidence - for example, projects for young offenders or marginalised groups - to better understand the impact.
Read our evidence review
Sport and dance for young people

Overall, participation in sport and dance activities are positive for
wellbeing. For commissioners interested in wellbeing as well as physical and mental health, there is a case for supporting sport and dance programmes for young people.

However, in the published literature from the past 10 years, there is limited good quality evidence, and very little conducted in the UK.

How do we fill the evidence gaps? Embed evaluation into commissioning of sport and dance programmes, as well as design and delivery. Funding bodies also need to request wellbeing evidence and fund evaluations for programmes to be able to carry out evaluations.

Experiences are also important for understanding impacts: evaluating wellbeing 'in the moment' will give us a different understanding from people's overall assessments of life and their wellbeing.
Read our evidence review
Outdoor recreation

The evidence points to a positive link between participation in outdoor
activities with family and friends and wellbeing.

There is a case for promoting outdoor recreation, especially as a family-orientated activity at a national level. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions given the limited amount of evidence and its low quality.

National agencies can have a key role in promoting agreement on definitions and developing relevant measures of wellbeing outcomes at a national level. This consistent use of wellbeing outcomes as an evaluator will allow for comparisons across the different activities in this area of interest.

They should also promote the development of a programme of wellbeing evaluation training. This would be highly useful to support service providers and key stakeholders in the outdoor recreation sectors. It would eventually ensure that a comprehensive programme of delivery includes
appropriate and rigorous monitoring and evaluation.
Read the evidence review
Visual arts for people with mental health issues

Evidence shows that visual arts activities, of various kinds, can reduce
depression and anxiety and increase confidence and self-esteem.

How? Engagement with visual arts can support phased progress towards
recovery, re-engagement with 'everyday life' and other people in a local
culture and community.

The creative process can help participants immerse themselves and escape from everyday anxieties and in some cases, thrive with the new identity of 'artist' or member.

It matters how activities are run. The most effective interventions provided:

safe spaces where people did not feel stigmatised

facilitation by empathetic teams of practitioners/researchers.

Read the evidence review
Heritage

Evidence shows impacts on individual wellbeing, including outcomes
such as increased confidence, social connectivity and life satisfaction.
However, the quality of the studies in our scoping review is mixed.

There is also some higher and lower quality evidence on community
wellbeing impacts, including outcomes on social relationships, sense
of belonging, pride of place, ownership and collective empowerment.

There is a need to view the impacts of heritage places and assets through an inequalities lens that focusses attention on positive and negative impacts and the distribution of impacts within, and across, different population groups.
Read the scoping review
No evidence for your activity?

A lack of evidence does not mean that there are no wellbeing benefits from taking part. It only shows that no-one has measured the wellbeing impacts.

You can help us to understand the effect of different physical activity and improve the evidence base by evaluating the wellbeing impacts of your projects and programmes. Find out how to measure your wellbeing impact.

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Culture, arts and sport - What Works Wellbeing

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Overall, building the evidence on wellbeing in culture and sport will help to understand what works for wellbeing, for whom, when and where. Music There is a strong case for local authorities, trusts and foundations to continue supporting of music and singing activities which enhance and maintain subjective wellbeing in adults.

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The coolest suite of activities!

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Music is for everyone. Play with simple experiments that let anyone, of any age, explore how music works.

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Making music with the literal laptop keyboard. Really cool if you load in two browsers to make polyphonic rhythms

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The act of writing has always been an art. Now, it can also be an act of music. Each letter you type corresponds to a specific musical note putting a new spin to your composition. Make music while you write.

Cryptographers rejoice, we've open-sourced our data! Statistical Analysis

Support the makers of Typatone:

If you like Typatone you might like our other projects Patatap and Curaturae.

Patatap was made with Two.js: a two dimensional drawing api for the web.

© 2015-2024

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The act of writing has always been an art. Now, it can also be an act of music. Each letter you type corresponds to a specific musical note putting a new spin to your composition. Make music while you write.

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Try our e-Science Ceilidh dance at home!

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Try our e-Science Ceilidh dance at home!

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With the Pint of Science festival - trying the Canadian Brain Dance!

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Show 12 | Thu 10 Sep 9.00pm | Squirrels, Fungus & a Ceilidh - what could go wrong?!

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The big takeaways

Develop new ways of thinking and talking about youth loneliness, beyond traditional medicalised discourse and towards more expansive understandings of youth and more inclusive ways of belonging.

Arts-based and creative methods create spaces and relationships where young people can find connections and navigate loneliness.

Restore youth work provision so that all young people have someone who knows and accepts them for who they are. Interventions need to go beyond individual funded projects and towards commons spaces and social movements.

Youth led social action allows the development of practical and political change, benefiting youth participants and their peers.

Who is involved?

Children and young people aged 11-25 as co-researchers

Manchester Metropolitan University

A local charity, 42nd Street

C0-op Foundation (Funder)

Loneliness Connects Us was a UK-based project, involving youth co-researchers, the and Manchester Metropolitan University's Education and Social Research Institute . It was funded by the Co-op Foundation . It took place between 2016-2019, and used artistic and creative methods to explore youth loneliness from the perspective of young people aged 11-25. It aimed to develop new ways of understanding youth loneliness and create strategies for young people (and those closest to them) to reduce problematic and painful loneliness.

Approaching loneliness

Research suggests that 1 in 3 young people suffer from loneliness (Kantar Public, Co-op, British Red Cross, 2016) 65% of 16-25 year olds report feeling lonely at times and 32% feel lonely "often" or "all the time" (Majoribanks and Bradley, 2017).

Loneliness is subjective. It is something that is perceived and felt, rather than simply a description or the experience of being alone. For this project, loneliness was considered to be the negative emotions that accompany a discrepancy between one's desired and achieved levels of social relations or one's perceived social isolation. Although isolation and loneliness are linked it does not necessarily follow that isolated people will feel lonely or that people who are surrounded by people will not feel lonely.

Loneliness is also an abjected and stigmatised state. There are powerful social and psychological pressures to appear socially successful, and as we compare ourselves to someone we perceive as being more or less lonely (or popular) augmented by the increased use of social media, we may find ourselves becoming anxious and/or low. Loneliness is therefore something that young people, like others, may associate with mental ill health, hide or deny, and find difficult to talk about.

Young people's experience of loneliness has been linked to key moments of transition, at times becoming chronic and possibly intensifying associations to social isolation.

Key transition points associated with young people include:

Moving school / college / to university

Moving from school to work

Leaving home / living independently

Dating and seeking or forming adult relationships

Aims

This project worked with youth co-researchers to include the voices of young people in discussions about loneliness. It explored new narratives of youth loneliness and knowledge, of both young people and people and organisations working with them. It developed the capacity of youth co-researchers to use creative methods to encourage meaningful conversations about loneliness.

Methods

The work of a core group of 16 young people drawn from the 42 nd Street programmes, was broadened out through further projects with young people from across Manchester, Birmingham and Stoke. The themes the co-researchers identified informed the creation of a piece of immersive theatre alongside:

1. Building capacity of researchers to use creative methods to explore youth loneliness and co-produce the research agenda.

2. Collecting and using data using creative methods to explore various experiences of youth loneliness; translating this into a theatre piece, Missing.

3. Broadening the conversation: used Missing to share the findings with groups of young people across the UK.

Key findings

The social conditions and experiences of youth loneliness

Change and transition may impact on a young person's ability to connect and may lead to loneliness. It is important to support young people during these times. Whether sexual, racial or cultural differences can create a sense of isolation. Poverty can impact on a young person's ability to participate and feel like they belong. While social media presents additional pressures on young people, it also offers the possibility of connection and positive relationships.

The drive for success can lead to loneliness, as well as the fear of failure and disappointing others. We need to diversify forms of success and ensure young people feel they are valued for who they are.

Young people and acts of friendship and connection

Young people find ways to support themselves and one another. Low-key offers of connection and companionship, especially at moments of difficulty or change, are valued and encouraged. Parks and open spaces provide opportunities for safe ways of being alone and for connection.

Projects that make times and places for sharing interests, enthusiasms and many forms of creativity are also valued. Common spaces of all kinds can help young people to feel that they belong somewhere. Start the conversation and don't give up on it; create opportunities for shared activities and interests allowing for connections without talking, or at least before the talk begins. Construct understandings of 'friendship' and what it involves; as well as what friends don't do if they are to remain a friend.

Many experiences are first time experiences; negotiating and navigating life as a young person with all of the additional pressures identified can be difficult, confusing and isolating. Raising awareness about this and the strategies that can be used to support young people, shows that loneliness does not have to be a bad thing or a permanent state. We can all help each other to connect.

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Young people, loneliness, and exploring friendships - What Works Wellbeing

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The big takeaways Develop new ways of thinking and talking about youth loneliness, beyond traditional medicalised discourse and towards more expansive understandings of youth and more inclusive ways of belonging. Arts-based and creative methods create spaces and relationships where young...

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Flo's Skatepark in Nottingham provides a space for young people to gather and socialise, away from the complexities and pressures of daily life

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Music is not limited to the world of sound. There exists a music of the visual world. - Oskar Fischinger,1951

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Tiny music generator

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A tiny music generator that creates random ambient music. Each row is a track/voice, which has some properties you can modify. The notes they play will change over time at random, and you can also change what scale the whole piece uses.

Source code: https://github.com/zenzoa/beepster

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A tiny music generator that creates random ambient music. Each row is a track/voice, which has some properties you can modify. The notes they play will change over time at random, and you can also change what scale the whole piece uses. Source code: https://github.com/zenzoa/beepster

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Imitone: Using your voice to control music 

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Imitone: Using your voice to control music 

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This is still in development, has a cost but cool idea for young people

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an invention for everyone
revolutionary audio technology in a tool anyone can use
to learn, to create, to play.
designed to enable.

...exactly what does imitone do?

imitone translates your voice into MIDI, the language of digital music.

As you sing into your microphone, imitone's unique technology will detect musical notes and instantly play them.
This can be used to control almost any music app or digital instrument.

imitone also understands humming, whistling and most instruments.

...what do I need to use it?

imitone should run on almost any PC or Mac less than 7 years old.

You also need a microphone, some headphones and a music-making app.

For best results, use imitone in a quiet place-away from distracting sounds like people talking, television, or music.

...system requirements?

Windows Vista, 7, 8 or 10
Mac OS 10.7 or newer

Windows XP or newer
Mac OS 10.7 (Intel) or newer

2Ghz Multi-Core CPU
2GB RAM
Shielded Microphone
Modern Graphics Card

1.4Ghz Multi-Core CPU
512MB RAM
Any Microphone

imitone may work on machines below the minimum requirements, but we can't guarantee this!

...a music-making app?

Digital music-making almost always involves three parts: a controller, a "DAW" and instruments. The DAW is where music is played, recorded and arranged. imitone is a controller, designed for compatibility with as many DAWs and instruments as possible.

Popular DAWs for beginners include GarageBand, FL Studio and MixCraft. All of these come with instruments.

We are working on a DAW guide to help new imitone users get started.

Note: imitone will eventually include several instruments, but it will still be most useful when connected to a DAW.

...a microphone?

imitone does not need an expensive microphone, and can work with almost anything as long as it can clearly hear your voice.

imitone may be faster and more accurate with a high-quality mic setup, especially in noisy or echoing spaces.

...headphones?

While not required, headphones are strongly recommended. This is because imitone works best when it hears only your voice.

When using imitone with speakers, try to position your microphone so that it picks up as little feedback as possible.

...how does it compare?

Though it isn't finished yet, imitone's resonator technology makes it the quickest voice pitch tracker in the world, and one of the most accurate.

Here's a video we shot in early 2015:

The latest technology is even better. We are continuing our research to build a tool that works "like magic".

...what's the latency?

imitone can respond in under 30 milliseconds for notes in the low tenor range. At higher pitches, latency is exponentially lower, down to a minimum of a few milliseconds for whistling.

imitone responds faster to "clear" tones than "gritty" sounds. Its latency is in addition to any hardware latency.

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an invention for everyone revolutionary audio technology in a tool anyone can useto learn, to create, to play.designed to enable. ...exactly what does imitone do? imitone translates your voice into MIDI, the language of digital music.

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Free slightly more involved NES generator

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FamiStudio is a very simple, DAW-style, music editor for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is designed for both chiptune enthusiasts and the NES homebrew community.

Features:

Modern DAW-style UI with sequencer and piano roll, no hexadecimal anywhere

Instrument & Envelope edition

NSF import

Full Undo/Redo support

Copy & Paste support

Note drag & drop with audio preview

Import from FamiTracker FTM & Text (official 0.4.6)

Export to various formats (WAV, ROM, NSF, FamiTone2, FamiStudio Text, FamiTracker Text)

Volume, fine pitch, vibrato effect tracks

Slide notes (portamento)

Arpeggios

NES sound engine (CA65, NESASM, ASM6)

MIDI input support

Audio expansions supported: VRC6, VRC7, FDS, MMC5, Namco 163 & Sunsoft S5B.

Windows, MacOS and Linux versions.

Tutorial

Here is a 40 minutes tutorial that will teach you how to make a song from scratch.

For updates, source code and documentation, please visit www.famistudio.org.

Install instructions

Windows

Simply download and run the installer (.msi). If you get a security warning simple click "More Info..." and discard the warning. A shortcut to FamiStudio and the included demo songs will be added to your Start Menu. You will need install the VS2015 runtime (x86) which you can download here.

MacOS

Download and uncompress the file anywhere and the launch FamiStudio app. The demo songs and included in the zip. The app is unsigned and might require you to ignore a few warning and you may need to grant it a few permissions if you are running Catalina.

Linux

A FlatHub build is also available for a simpler installation.

If installing from the ZIP file, please check out the documentation for the Linux installation procedure.

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FamiStudio is a very simple, DAW-style, music editor for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is designed for both chiptune enthusiasts and the NES homebrew community.

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A minimalistic piano roll sequencer.

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PETAPORON is a minimalistic piano roll sequencer.
Compose a song and export it to mp3!

space: start/stop playback

left arrow: navigate one bar forward

right: navigate one bar back

alt+left: go to the start of the song

backspace / delete: delete selection

cmd+z: undo

shift+cmd+z: redo

cmd+x: cut selection

cmd+c: copy selection

cmd+v: paste

cmd+s: save song data to a text file (to reload it: drag&drop this file on Petaporon)

cmd+e: export song to mp3

cmd+n: new song

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PETAPORON is a minimalistic piano roll sequencer. Compose a song and export it to mp3!

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Create sound effects by drawing volume and pitch sequences, using the 8 waveforms to choose from.
Right-click to remove steps in the sequence. Hold shift to only change the waveform.
Adjust sound duration (speed), pitch range, or snap pitch to the chromatic scale.

When you are done editing, exports all your sounds to mp3 or wav audio files.
Or save your program as text data for future edits.

Shortcuts:

space: play current sound

up arrow: navigate to previous sound in the list

down arrow: navigate to next sound in the list

cmd+up arrow: move selected sound up in the list

cmd+down arrow: move selected sound down in the list

enter: edit selected sound name

backspace / delete: delete selected sound

cmd+z: undo

shift+cmd+z: redo

cmd+c: copy current sound to a new sound

cmd+s: save program data to a text file (to reload it: drag&drop this file on Bleeper)

cmd+e: export all sounds to mp3 or wav (a menu will pop up)

cmd+n: new program (delete all sounds)

Bleeper is the official SFX creation tool for Pixelbox

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Create sound effects by drawing volume and pitch sequences, using the 8 waveforms to choose from. Right-click to remove steps in the sequence. Hold shift to only change the waveform. Adjust sound duration (speed), pitch range, or snap pitch to the chromatic scale.

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all our resources are freely available.

We believe in sharing resources, learning and approaches freely with educators, communities and learners under non-commercial creative commons. As well as our science-themed dances, these include activities for families & young people, interdisciplinary strategies for teachers and other educators, toolkits for researchers, accessible research digests around topics such as creativity and the brain for community groups. Click on the images below or check out the featured resources.

Please do share with how you use them, we love seeing them in action on twitter or facebook (give us a wee tag on @scienceceilidh) or even just email, and we're always improving and expanding our resources so if you have any feedback or suggestions, get in touch!

quick theme links: climate change / maths / biology / physics / chemistry / space / additional support needs / primary pedagogy / forces / free music for dancing

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We believe in sharing resources, learning and approaches freely with educators, communities and learners under non-commercial creative commons. As well as our science-themed dances, these include activities for families & young people, interdisciplinary strategies for teachers and other educators, toolkits for researchers, accessible research digests around topics such as creativity and the brain for community groups.

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Culture & Wellbeing Community Network Scotland

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This peer & community network is to bring creative, library and grassroots groups and individuals together in Scotland and is open to all! We will be bringing weekly conversations, peer-led sharing...

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Sensatronic Lab is an experimental music, art and technology project. Its main aim is to work with young people from all backgrounds to design new types of digital musical instruments.

As a group of artists we are responding to the current Covid-19 crisis by sharing home based resources for young people and families. Check our Facebook and Twitter feeds for regular updates. In the mean time watch out the video below of some great audio reactive apps!

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Sensatronic Lab is an experimental music, art and technology project. Its main aim is to work with young people from all backgrounds to design new types of digital musical instruments. As a group of artists we are responding to the current Covid-19 crisis by sharing home based resources for young people and families.

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We have always said that Fun Palaces are about the tiniest of connections, person to person - and that the process of creating a Fun Palace is easily as important as what happens on the weekend. As we say in our Manifesto:
We believe we can do this together, locally, with radical fun - and that anyone, anywhere, can make a Fun Palace.
Now it's time to give it a try ...

We are sharing practical suggestions, tiny steps anyone can take to connect a little more in their local community or simply pass time creatively in self-isolation. These steps are both online and OFFline - while a great deal of connection is moving online right now, this is not available to everyone and we want Fun Palaces, as ever, to be for anyone who wants to connect.

Try out these ideas (all of which are great for a Fun Palace) and send us your suggestions (email Stella) - we can share these as blogs, videos or audio. Keep it brief, 300 written words or 2-3 mins maximum of recorded material, that way we'll have space to share even more.

We have made dozens of Tiny Revolutions into PDFs so you can download and print to share with people offline. Or we can print & post them to you if you'd like to share in your community with vulnerable or isolated people. Let us know.

The Tiny Revolutions below are activities to do at any time - in isolation, lockdown and when we're safe to connect in person again, maybe at a Tiny Fun Palace in October?

#TinyRevolutions - tadpole update!

refilling the pond

TinyRevolutions - MaskerAid

#TinyRevolutions - frozen flowers

#TinyRevolutions - seed papers

tiny revolutions of connection

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Tiny Revolutions of Connection - Fun Palaces

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We have always said that Fun Palaces are about the tiniest of connections, person to person - and that the process of creating a Fun Palace is easily as important as what happens on the weekend. As we say in our Manifesto: We believe we can do this together, locally, with radical fun - and that anyone, anywhere, can make a Fun Palace.

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supporting stem learning with arts & movement - Primary teachers pack

This resource has developed from many years of our work as the Science Ceilidh using movement and other arts to help support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) learning in primary and secondary schools across Scotland and the UK.

Our schools programme primarily focuses on exploring the science of music and linking this to physics, biology and neuroscience topics. This includes how vibrations of the instruments make sounds, how this is detected by our senses & our brains and how this links to current research about brain plasticity and the importance of learning. Our team have a strong background in both science and traditional music and dance, so we can incorporate music and movement games, including an activity where students break down one of the senses discussed into steps, and create and then perform a dance to explain how the ears or the eyes for example work to their classmates and parents.

Based on this experience and the feedback of both the pupils, parents and teachers themselves, we have found creative movement has multiple benefits in STEM learning including:

1. Reinforcing students' conceptual understanding by asking students to break down science concepts they have learnt into key steps & revising them.

2. Developing students' creative skills, teamwork and higher order thinking through working as a group to interpreting the science concepts through movement or other ways.

3. Encouraging students to take ownership of their work and the science involved as "the experts" when they perform the developed piece with the science explanations to peers, schoolmates or even parents/wider community.

4. Breaking stereotypes about science ("science isn't creative") and reciprocally about the arts, both as topics and as careers, by integrating arts and dance in STEM as part of a larger conversation about the importance of creativity.

5. Engaging learners through physical activity and embodied learning in classes, varying the learning approach styles with arts & dance, and supporting interdisciplinary links across curriculums, and between students & departments.

We are keen in the long-term to be able to research the benefits more robustly. However, as the integration of movement does not require specialist skills nor even need to take too much time. Therefore, we encourage education practitioners to experiment themselves and have designed this resource, with the kind support from the Wellcome Trust, to give advice and suggestions of lesson plans, activities and ideas of how you may tackle topic such as circuits,the water cycle, the ear or the solar system with arts and movement.

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This resource has developed from many years of our work as the Science Ceilidh using movement and other arts to help support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) learning in primary and secondary schools across Scotland and the UK. Our schools programme primarily focuses on exploring the science of music and linking this to physics, biology and neuroscience topics.

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The Reader

The Reader at Home initiative will bring you wonderful reading materials, Shared Reading online and by phone and more.

Whether you're a member of one of our groups, a volunteer or a partner organisation, they hope there is something for you. And if you're new to The Reader, they hope to inspire you to get involved in the community.

Big Weekend UK 2020

Big Weekend 2020 is going ahead as planned (Friday 22 - Sunday 24 May 2020), but with a twist: it's a virtual festival. Radio 1 and the world's biggest artists will be joining you remotely while you stay at home.
The likes of Sam Smith and Jonas Brothers will be performing from their homes and maybe even home studios.

CALM Comedy Club

The CALM Comedy Club is a live streamed comedy series offering big laughs from big names direct to your Twitter feed.
Starting on 27 April, every day of the week at 3pm (BST), exclusively live streamed through our Twitter feed, they will be having an array of very funny people who'll be providing 10 mins of laughs, where you can take shelter away from the news and these weird times we're in.

Armchair Gallery

Discover, play & create with your favourite artists. Including artworks and artefacts from the collections of Chatsworth House, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Lowry, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Pitt Rivers Museum, Mr Straw's House & Newstead Abbey.

Colour a Canaletto, create your own Hepworth, take a selfie with Lowry and much, much more...

English National Ballet

The English National Ballet is inviting audiences to weekly viewings of never-before-seen performance recordings as part of its new watch-along series.

The online premieres of Broken Wings, based on the life of artist Frida Kahlo, and Akram Khan's Dust will be the first ballets to be released.

A new full-length show will premiere every Wednesday on Facebook and YouTube at 7pm, when viewers can watch together with the ENB on social media. Each show will then be available for the next 48 hours.

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The Reader The Reader at Home initiative will bring you wonderful reading materials, Shared Reading online and by phone and more. Whether you're a member of one of our groups, a volunteer or a partner organisation, they hope there is something for you.

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Looking for help making music at home?
Check out our videos and downloadable resources below which will help you play instruments using Figurenotes.

Figurenotes is a simple notation system which helps you to play instruments such as keyboards and guitars quickly and easily. You can also find a host of free Figurenotes resources at Figurenotes at home.

If you have enjoyed using these free resources and can, why not send us a donation.

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Looking for help making music at home? Check out our videos and downloadable resources below which will help you play instruments using Figurenotes. Figurenotes is a simple notation system which helps you to play instruments such as keyboards and guitars quickly and easily. You can also find a host of free Figurenotes resources at Figurenotes at home.

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In the largest study of its kind, with almost 50,000 people taking part, the BBC Arts Great British Creativity Test - in partnership with UCL - explored for the first time how creative activities can help us manage our mood and boost wellbeing.

The results are being revealed today as part of the Get Creative Festival - the UK-wide celebration of have-a-go creativity from May 11-19, with more than 1,000 events on offer to the public, either for free or just a small cost.

Led by Dr Daisy Fancourt, UCL Senior Research Fellow and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker, the Great British Creativity Test research shows there are three main ways we use creativity as coping mechanisms to control our emotions:

1. a distraction tool - using creativity to avoid stress
2. a contemplation tool - using creativity to give us the mind space to reassess problems in our lives and make plans
3. a means of self-development to face challenges by building up self-esteem and confidence

Trying new creative activities is particularly good for our emotions and wellbeing. The research found that getting hands-on with something new and creative is important regardless of skill level, it is the taking part that counts.

Constantly learning and trying new creative pursuits is also more beneficial, as the survey revealed that doing an activity for more than ten years, means it can become less effective at regulating negative emotions.

The findings also revealed that we get emotional benefits from even a single session of creativity and there are cumulative benefits from regular engagement. And, when we're facing hardships in our lives, creative activities are particularly beneficial for our emotions.

Interestingly, the survey revealed that nothing beats taking part in live creative activities that involve face-to-face social interaction, for example: singing in a choir or taking part in a group painting class. However, virtual creative experiences can also help and seem to have some benefits but these are less strong and emotionally beneficial than experiences which include face-to-face interaction with others. To explore this, the team worked with composer Eric Whitacre to compare responses from the Great British Creativity Test on live group singing, with responses from participants who had taken part in a virtual choir, singing remotely from their own homes. Both groups experienced benefits for their emotions, although the strongest results came from live singing.

Dr Daisy Fancourt, says: "This study is the first to show the cognitive strategies the brain uses to regulate our emotions when we're taking part in creative activities. While previous studies have shown the strong link between creative activities and emotions, we've not been sure about how this has been happening. It is a really exciting finding and we'll be sharing our data with other researchers across the UK."

Lamia Dabboussy, Editor, BBC Arts, says: "We are proud to be one of the founding partners of Get Creative and are thrilled that our research adds to the wealth of evidence about the benefits of getting creative. Through the Get Creative Festival everyone has the chance to take the plunge and try something new and find a new creative hobby - with the knowledge that it's having a great effect on your emotional health. Lots of us lead increasingly busy lives and this research shows that even a small amount of time spent on creative pursuits can really make a difference. I hope the results will give audiences the inspiration and confidence to take up a new creative hobby in 2019."

The Great British Creativity Test findings are being used to help people identify which of the three coping mechanisms they use and this year, as part of the Get Creative Festival 2019, people will be invited to take a Feel Good Test. The Get Creative Feel Good Test will give participants a 'feel good formula' to re-boot their creative habits - maximising the potential for each individual to improve wellbeing.

The Open University has developed a new website with the BBC to run the study in partnership with UCL and give personal recommendations.

Mike Sharples, Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology at The Open University, says: "We have worked closely with the BBC and UCL on developing our nQuire site to host the Feel Good Test. At the end of the Test, participants get a personalised Feel Good Formula with advice on how small changes to spare time activities could bring health benefits."

The Get Creative Festival - now in its fourth year - shines a light on all the innovative and inspiring cultural activity across the UK; it is delivered in partnership with 64 Million Artists, Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales, the BBC, Crafts Council, Creative People and Places, Creative Scotland, Family Arts Campaign, Local Government Association, Libraries Connected, Scottish Library & Information Council, Voluntary Arts and What Next?

This unique test will launch in early May 2019 ahead of this year's Get Creative Festival from 11-19 May.
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Good news for those juggling time-pressures in today's busy, modern life. According to ground breaking research commissioned by BBC Arts, even the briefest time spent on a creative pastime such as painting, pottery or playing the piano, has an impact on our wellbeing and emotions.