Jayne Howard - Director of Arts Well

Jayne Howard is the Creative Health Associates Programme Manager at the National Centre for Creative Health (www.ncch.org.uk ) and is also the founding Director of Arts Well CIC (www.arts-well.com), a social enterprise that places arts and creativity at the centre of health and wellbeing.

Jane was nominated by several of her peers for her ‘commitment, tenacity, passion and drive in the field of creative health and health for over 25 years’.

Jayne was Director of the national-award winning Arts for Health Cornwall for 11 years, during which time it delivered a wide range of programmes and had far-reaching impact on individuals, organisations and communities and received the Arts and Health South West Outstanding Individual Contribution to arts and health in 2016.

In 2016 Jayne founded Arts Well as a CIC to continue the important work of making creative health opportunities available to the communities of Cornwall. With Jayne's extensive knowledge of the arts and health sector and with experience of working at both strategic and practical levels, Arts Well develops projects and programmes, taking an outcomes-based approach and using co-production models in the development of its work. She leads from the front with passion, tenacity and sensitivity and supports others to thrive and develop. 

Her belief in the power of creativity to transform wellbeing in communities and individuals is grounded in a career in education and public health; over 20 years of initiating, advising and collaborating on arts-based health projects in Cornwall; a strong sense of social justice and a passion for the arts and the power of partnerships.

She was a teacher of English and Drama, before moving into the NHS where she held a variety of senior management roles including as Director of Public Health for Central Cornwall. She is a qualified teacher, workplace coach and mentor and has postgraduate qualifications in art and design history, English literature and professional writing. She has lived in Cornwall for almost 30 years but is still a proud Brummie and Aston Villa fan.

She doesn’t use social media on a personal basis but you can follow Arts Well’s social media here.

1.     What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Personally – raising 3 boys into wonderful men who are great partners for the women in their lives.  I can’t take all the credit for that – I have a husband who has been a fantastic role model for them.

Professionally – no question, it was the setting up of a GP service for homeless people in Cornwall which is still in operation. It is often difficult when you work in a big organisation (I was working in the NHS) to point to something which changed because of you or a decision you made, but this is definitely something where I can say that I made a difference. Lots of people helped – I worked in partnership with the late Steve Ellis, an inspirational leader at St Petrocs, and had support from others in my team, so it was not a solo effort, but I feel very proud of having battled some considerable opposition and challenges to set up a service to support some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

2.     What motivates you to do what you do?

I think my whole working life has been characterised by a need to tackle social injustice and inequality and I know that creativity has a huge role to play in this. People often think of ‘the arts’ or being creative as something that is a luxury, or a privilege for other people, but creativity is fundamental to our humanity. It really can transform lives – we saw this during the pandemic, where people of all demographics, including those living in the most difficult of circumstances, instinctively turned to arts, crafts and culture to help them cope. My work is about trying to find ways in which those opportunities are available to all and embedded in our health and care system.

3.     What do you owe your mother?

A love of literature, poetry in particular, which has been an absolute mainstay in my life. I can remember my mum reading poems to me when I was quite young – The Highwayman, Arabia, Kubhla Khan, Tarantella – and I know these off by heart now. Although I didn’t always understand exactly what they were about, I fell in love with the words and the feelings they evoked. My mum was – and stlll is – always immersed in one or more books, so a love of reading came early on. We used to go the local library in Birmingham every Saturday morning, after shopping, and we would separate off – me to the Children’s section, whilst she was in the main library – and then meet up at the issue desk to get our books stamped. I used to sneak a peak at her books and so began reading Howard Spring, Agatha Christie, Jean Plaidy and the Jalna novels way before I was really old enough to appreciate them fully. That continues to this day – Mum and I swap books and recommendations all the time, as well as going to the theatre together. I cannot imagine living without literature.

4.     Which women inspire you and why?

There are so many! The best bosses I have ever worked for have all been women. The team of women that I currently manage are so inspirational. The headmistress at my secondary school, Miss Wilks, really inspired me. She was someone who had been a bit of a rebel and went on to become an amazing educational leader. She taught me to channel my rebelliousness so that it was for something, rather than just against things. Other teachers too – Miss Jones, my English teacher and Mrs Sanderson, who taught me German, but so much more besides. They both had such an appetite for life, taught me to embrace new experiences and were also kind and compassionate. More recently, I have been inspired by all those women who worked their jobs and home-schooled their kids during Covid. Their efforts encouraged me to keep going at times when it seemed difficult to get through each day, though I had nothing like their pressures to deal with.

5.     What are you reading?

I’ve always got more than one book on the go. I’m reading Fatal Isolation by Richard C Keller, about the heatwave of 2003 in Paris, when thousands died. It’s about urban social policy and about how societies need to protect their most vulnerable members. I’ve just finished another non-fiction book, Hellhounds on his Trail by Hampton Sides, which is an account of the manhunt of James Earl Ray. It was gripping – even though I knew the ending! I’m generally a fiction fan, and both these non-fiction books are written in a way that is more like a novel. I’m working my way through the novels of Barbara Comyns, whom I came across only recently. She mainly wrote in the 1950s and 60s and never achieved mainstream popularity. Our Spoons Came from Woolworths explores issues of class, poverty, motherhood and feminism – I highly recommend it. My current audio book is another twisty suspense novel by Lisa Jewell, None of This Is True. I walk to and from my office most days, which is a 50 minute walk each way, so I have plenty of time to listen to novels and I find that crime and thrillers are my go-to whilst I am enjoying the fresh air and river views.

6.     What gender barriers have you had to hurdle?

I went to an all-girls school, which I felt very resentful about at the time, but I can see that it definitely encouraged us to believe that women were easily equal to men.  When I started work it was a bit of a shock to find that my gender was used against me – men with less ability were more readily promoted and casual sexual comments were par for the course. There was behaviour that I would definitely call out now, which I didn’t feel able to at that time.  I also felt that my desire to have a career led some people to view me as some sort of ‘career bitch’ who put her job before her family. But I think that young women today have a much harder time of it than I did and I feel that I – and others of my generation – took our eye off the ball and thought that the hard-won rights we enjoyed were here forever and not under threat. Pressures on young people, and young women in particular, feel much greater and I worry about their mental and emotional wellbeing.

7.     How can the world be made a better place for women?

We need to educate and nurture our boys and men better, focus on how we bring up and teach boys in all countries and cultures. Out of interest, I asked my husband what his response would be to this question, and he said the same!

8.     Describe your perfect day.

Waking up in Paris, croissants at a pavement cafe, a bit of flaneuring, visiting an art exhibition.  Delicious lunch followed by a couple of hours of reading and a siesta then dinner with family and close friends, ending the night with a crepe and a glass of something lovely, people-watching at Le Brebant on the Rue de Montmartre.

9.     Who would you like to see remembered by statues in Cornwall?

I’m not really a fan of statues – I’d quite like to see a ‘Fourth Plinth’ idea whereby we have a space where female achievements can be acknowledged for a period of time, but it changes regularly, keeping up to date and responsive.

10.  Give us a tip

Get a banana guard! A banana is a superfood, but I can’t bear ones that are bruised or a bit mushy. My banana guard means I can transport them without fear!