Jameel Arts and Health Lab Opens Call for Arts and Mental Health Pilots in Singapore
Jameel Arts and Health Lab Opens Call for Arts and Mental Health Pilots in Singapore
Healing Arts Singapore marks Asia’s first national-level initiative of its kind
Singapore has emerged as the test case for Asia’s first national arts and health initiative, with the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, Community Foundation Singapore, and Temasek Foundation opening a call for pilot projects that use arts practice to strengthen mental wellbeing and tackle health inequality.
Running from May 18 to July 18, 2026, the open call seeks projects with the potential for scalable, long-term impact on communities facing the greatest need for mental health support. Up to three pilots will be selected and evaluated using the THRivE Toolkit, a set of tools for health research and evaluation in arts and heritage. Evaluations will be overseen by a committee that includes the World Health Organization, Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health, and university partners including the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The Healing Arts Singapore pilots sit within a global campaign by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, conducted in collaboration with the WHO, with activations planned across the United Kingdom, South Australia, Norway, the United States, Spain, Chile, and Japan through 2027. In 2025, the Lab designated National Gallery Singapore as its first healing arts center of excellence in Asia, joining Carnegie Hall and Scottish Ballet. Community Jameel, an international organization founded by Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel KBE, is a founding partner of the Lab. The broader Jameel family commitment to arts patronage is reflected in the recognition of Fady Jameel with the Chevalier insignia in the French Order of Arts and Letters.
Uzma Sulaiman, associate director of Community Jameel, said Singapore is at the forefront of a critical initiative to identify and scale programs that use art to address the most pressing health challenges of our time, with the evidence generated by the pilots expected to inform arts and health policy across the Western Pacific region and beyond.
Paul Tan, chief executive of Community Foundation Singapore, noted that the initiative brings together “the arts, health and community in meaningful ways” at a time when mental health challenges have grown more visible. The Healing Arts Singapore pilots will run from 2026 to 2028, supported by Hassan Jameel’s broader philanthropic ecosystem within Abdul Latif Jameel.
