The Art of Creating New Stories: Art-Based Learning in Palliative Care (RAAK-PRO)
- Partner(s): ArtEZ, Amsterdam UMC, Universiteit Twente, Vrije Universiteit, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Radboud Universiteit, Amsterdam Museum, Museum Jan Cunen, Museum Arnhem, Leren van Kunst, patiëntenverenigingen Living with Hope, SPKS en NFK.
- Financier(s): Regieorgaan SIA RAAK-PRO, additional funding from the consortium partners
- Started in: October 2022
Living with a diagnosis of incurable cancer: for patients in palliative care, this is a harsh daily reality. How can you lead a meaningful life in a seemingly hopeless situation? This project investigates how Art-Based Learning (ABL) – an art education method for experiencing art – has the potential to affect meaning-making processes of cancer patients in palliative care. The involved researchers and artists will also investigate how to integrate ABL in (patient) education programs, and explore how health and art professionals can to extent their capabilities to care for palliative care-patients.

This project builds on previous research on contingent experiences and narrative meaning-making, and on a pilot-study regarding the feasibility of carrying out art-based learning in palliative care. The researchers and artists in this RAAK-PRO consortium will conduct participatory research to make an inventory of considerations that play a role in designing an art exhibition for the purpose of ABL among patients with advanced cancer. This participatory research will be turned into a manual to be used in future practice and research.
The researchers will also conduct an explorative study and evaluate which factors hinder and promote patients’ meaning- making processes. The consortium will also conduct a formal analysis of patients’ experiences with regards to meaning-making, and formally compile a full list of conclusion and advices and embed the result in a new educational program for PC and art education.
Art-PC in the media
"Kunst en de reconstructie van je levensverhaal" (Janus, Amsterdam MC)
RAAK-PRO voor onderzoek naar de rol van kunst in palliatieve zorg (Zorg & Sociaalweb)
Extra credit for this special mention of ART-PC on Artist in Residence (in Dutch), a website that inventories and highlights projects at the cutting edge of art and science. The inventory is part of an advisory report that the Academy of Arts and De Jonge Akademie van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) are compiling. This advice will advocate (better) recognition and appreciation of collaborations between art and science in the Netherlands.