(Commonwealth)_ New talent and leaders across the Commonwealth will come together at Marlborough House in London on 22 August 2025 for an innovative summit to talk about how the power of arts can shape public health. With the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship and the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Young Leaders for Arts and Health Summit is a festival in honour of Commonwealth International Youth Day. It has committed to offering a platform for youth innovation, listening more closely to the voices of the people, and creating systemic change here and around the world.
The summit proper will be between 13:00 and 17:00 BST, with registration at 12:30. It will feature a diverse program of performances by both established and up-and-coming performers, interactive breakout sessions, and an expert panel discussion by policy and practice leaders in arts and health. The summit will demonstrate the prospects for creativity not just in support of individual well-being but also in developing community engagement and key public health outcomes.
The summit dreams express an articulation of commitment to arts practice for good youth leadership development, cross-sector co-operation, and a respect for community-based, culturally responsive arts practice. Organisers want to raise awareness of the groups and networks that support young people making changes, celebrate new ways of tackling health problems, and create opportunities for different generations to work together in arts and health activities.
The representatives will come from a wide range of stakeholders, such as UK parliamentarians and high commissioners, artists, designers, arts-in-health professionals, and cultural producers. Students, youth, and groups involved in arts and culture will join neuroscientists, researchers, public health professionals, and care and social workers. This wide range of representation is a testament to the intersectoral cooperation and multidisciplinary cross-fertilisation to which the summit is dedicated and an indicator of the new means by which the arts can be linked to wellbeing and social change. Panellists and keynote speakers will address the summit.
Dr. Kunle Adewale, founder of the Young Leaders for Arts and Health program and 2016 Commonwealth Youth Award regional winner, will present his experience in empowering young people to drive change through practice in arts and health. Sir Norman Peter Limb, UK Minister of State for Community and Social Care and British politician and solicitor, will provide policy and public service expertise. Aisha Adamu Augie, Director-General of Nigeria‘s Centre for Black and African Arts & Civilisation (CBAAC) and Director of Global Affairs for Young Leaders for Arts and Health, will address arts initiatives as drivers of cultural identity and wellbeing. Yaning Mok, a literature and psychology student at Oxford University and winner of the Rise Global Award, will add a youth perspective to the meeting of creative practice and campaigning around mental health. The summit workshops shall be collaborative, participatory, learning-stimulative, and interactive in character. The emerging leaders shall lead the discussion in creating arts programmes which are needs-responsive, culturally fitting, and sustainable in the long term. New models of engaging the arts might be learnt in the workshops, good models might be shared, and cross-sectoral and international networks might be formed.
Public presentations by established and emerging artists will also bring insightful contributions to the summit, demonstrating how the arts can be employed to communicate powerful messages, bring people together, and promote health in innovative ways. Through the visual and performing arts, theatre and dance, music, and beyond, these presentations will demonstrate the power of creativity to facilitate social cohesion and good mental health.
Positioning arts-based submissions on policy enables policymakers and practitioners to design more youth-led, culturally responsive wellbeing models that honour youth leadership and cultural diversity. A case in point is the summit, which placed young people in the centre as change leaders in public health and arts work.
Lastly, the Young Leaders for Arts and Health Summit will advocate more boldly on behalf of young arts and health leaders and foster cross-sector partnerships to make it crystal clear that artistic work is not a niche issue of public health—it is the very foundation of strong, equitable communities.
As the Commonwealth celebrates International Youth Day, the summit provides a moment of pause to celebrate the life-transforming possibilities of arts and health, breaking open new possibilities for envisioning the future of wellbeing across the whole of the Commonwealth.
