Why choose the School of Arts and Creative Industries
This blended-learning course is led by experienced practitioners working at the intersection of health, creativity and social change.
We collaborate with organisations such as Mind, Sue Ryder and Take heART at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to test your ideas in live settings.
The course has practice at its heart, with sessions in movement, voice, ensemble and creative enquiry.
About the course
Creative health is an emerging field, often described as where creativity meets care. If you are an artist, health innovator or practitioner in a related field, this pioneering course will place you at the evolving centre of creative health, exploring how creativity can be a catalyst for wellbeing and supporting you to shape the field with integrity, curiosity and presence. Drawing from performing arts, somatic practices, socially engaged arts and creative research, you learn how to design, deliver and critically reflect on creative health interventions in real-world contexts where practice becomes a form of listening.
For further information, contact Amalia Garcia at amalia.garcia@beds.ac.uk
Course endorsement
This MA reflects national priorities for creative health education, aligning with NHS and Arts Council strategies.
Facilities and specialist equipment
Our vibrant campus environment supports both quiet reflection and dynamic creative exchange. Facilities include:
- Professional studio spaces
- Professional theatre
- Studio theatre
- Access to specialist equipment for performance, sound and visual work
Industry links
Our partnerships with organisations such as Mind, Sue Ryder and Take heART at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust give you opportunities to test your ideas in real-world settings. You also become part of regional and national creative health networks, opening doors to collaborations and employment.
Your student experience
This is a course where your presence matters: we work as an ensemble, learning through movement, dialogue and creative research.
Our staff are active practitioners and researchers with strong connections to the sector, ensuring you receive teaching grounded in current practice.
Study through a rich blend of studio practice, seminars, placements, reflective practice and creative research.
Teaching unfolds through immersive, retreat-style weekends every three to four weeks, giving time and space to arrive fully, connect deeply and let practice breathe.
Between gatherings, podcast-style lectures and creative tasks allow you to choose your own time and space to study and practice while staying connected to the group.
Small cohorts, experienced practitioners and a culture of care create a learning community that is both rigorous and nourishing, supporting you to grow your practice with depth and integrity.
Contribute to our Creative Health Symposium as part of your final project, to showcase research findings and build your professional network.
Course Leader - Amalia Garcia
Amalia is a performance artist, movement facilitator and academic, interested in the embodied processes that shape movement-based dance-theatre and creative health practices. She is also a qualified IFS - Internal Family Systems practitioner, and her work integrates enquiries from both artistic and therapeutic fields through practice-based research.
Course Leader - Amalia Garcia
Amalia is a performance artist, movement facilitator and academic, interested in the embodied processes that shape movement-based dance-theatre and creative health practices. She is also a qualified IFS - Internal Family Systems practitioner, and her work integrates enquiries from both artistic and therapeutic fields through practice-based research.
What will you study?
Across the course, you immerse yourself in five key strands.
Creative Health in Context – understand the social, cultural and political landscape of creative health, and your place within it.
Embodied Creative Health – explore somatic and performance practices (such as Authentic Movement, contact improvisation and the Feldenkrais method) as tools for creative facilitation and wellbeing.
Creative Enquiry and Impact – learn research methods that are rigorous, relational and imaginative to evidence and communicate impact.
Applied Creative Health – collaborate with partners to design and deliver creative health projects in real-world settings, developing your capacity to work ethically and creatively with communities.
Final Project – bring together your learning through a major independent project. You will deepen your practice-as-research and have the opportunity to present your work at a Creative Health Symposium, sharing your contribution with peers, partners and wider networks.
How will you be assessed?
We work as an ensemble of learners, valuing lived experience alongside academic knowledge.
Assessment is through practical projects, written reflections and presentations - all designed to nurture your authentic voice.
Careers
Graduates will be equipped to work in a rapidly growing field, spanning hospitals, hospices and community settings as well as arts organisations, research contexts and higher education. This course will strengthen your capacity to lead creative health projects, shape policy conversations or deepen your existing practice with new approaches and skills.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £16,900
If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £10,000 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International 2024/25
The full-time standard fee for a taught Master's degree for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £16,900
If you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk