Health-Generating Infrastructure

This forum and policy lab was the first in a broader national conversation about how Australia creates health beyond the formal healthcare system, and how we better recognise, connect, value and activate the civic, cultural and community infrastructure that already supports wellbeing, prevention, recovery, belonging and social connection.

The forum brought together a carefully selected group of leaders from Government, Health, Treasury and Finance, Infrastructure, Research, Arts and Culture, Philanthropy, Community Services and Lived Experience.

The central question this forum asked was:

If arts, culture, connection and civic participation already improve health, why are they still treated as peripheral to the health system?

The forum used arts and culture as the first worked example in a broader national conversation about the infrastructure that helps people live healthy, connected and meaningful lives. Community organisations, libraries, sporting clubs, cultural institutions, public places, volunteering and local networks all generate value that can appear across health, education, social services, regional development, productivity and community cohesion. Yet the organisation or portfolio supporting the asset is often not the one that sees the resulting benefit or avoided cost.

The forum was not seeking to shift responsibility between portfolios or turn community life into a health intervention. It asked how government and communities can better recognise shared public value, use existing assets more effectively and build stronger connections across policy, investment, service design and measurement.

What the day looked like

The morning set out the context through international and Australian perspectives, showcasing both the evidence and working examples of arts, culture and civic participation as health generating infrastructure.

The afternoon took the form of a policy lab. Government, health, community, cultural and academic leaders came together to turn that evidence into an activation agenda, identifying how existing assets can be recognised, connected, value and mobilised through neighbourhood health, social prescribing, preventive health policy and cross-portfolio collaboration. The aim was to leave with a shared vision, a clear policy proposition, and practical next-steps and priorities scaling the approach.

Key Take Aways:

Reflections from JR;

“What made the day important for me was not simply the quality of the speakers or the breadth of people in the room, although both were extraordinary. It was the amount of common ground.

Across government, health, arts and culture, academia, industry, philanthropy, community and lived experience, there seemed to be a fairly simple shared understanding: health is built in daily life, and ultimately what we want for people is a good life.

A life with health, certainly, but also purpose, meaning, connection, belonging, activity, culture, nature and opportunities to contribute.

A few things have stayed with me.

First, art should remain art. We do not need to turn artists into therapists or justify every cultural experience as a health intervention. Art, culture and creativity have value in their own right, and they should be available to everybody. At the same time, it is remarkable that so many of the things that make life richer can also contribute to healthier, more connected lives.

Second, if we want people participating more fully in community life, all of us need to become better at being together. Across culture, disability, health experiences and different life circumstances, people should expect to be welcomed, respected and understood. Safety should be the baseline. The greater ambition is belonging, participation, contribution and mutual value.

And third, we cannot keep having the same conversation about prevention for another 30 or 40 years.

We readily understand that roads, energy, food and other essential infrastructure require investment across decades. Yet the things all of that infrastructure ultimately exists to support, the quality, health and richness of our lives, are often expected to demonstrate their return within short funding and political cycles.

That feels increasingly difficult to defend.

Some value is immediate. Some builds over years. Some may mature over decades and appear in entirely different parts of government. If we are serious about prevention, we need ways of recognising that value and investing accordingly.

What I took from the day was therefore something larger than an arts and health agenda.

How do we create the conditions for a good life for everyone, and how do we invest in those conditions as seriously as we invest in the other infrastructure Australia needs for its future?”

Warm regards,

J.R.