Participatory arts, sport, physical activity and loneliness: the role of intangible assets

Participatory arts and sport activities, including music/singing, swimming and other leisure pursuits, offer opportunities for the practice, performance and sharing of common cultural values or traditions. This allows the celebration, validation and affirmation of identity, and enables positive social connections and feelings of belonging.

Activities, including spiritual rituals and ceremonies – with dance; poetry and song; and football – also promote emotional connections through feelings of empathy, trust, hope, pleasure, self-expression and togetherness. Sporting activities can ease social tensions based on difference by emphasising the importance of taking personal responsibility for learning about others and developing inclusive experiences.

These experiences can be actively supported in the design and delivery of the programmes, to emphasise mutual respect and the
importance of bridging processes. Enabling opportunities to celebrate diversity by sharing, learning and via purposeful and meaningful
participatory arts and sporting activities can bridge the divide of culture, age, socioeconomic status or life experience.

Different groups of people can adapt and integrate within communities through activities such as dance, storytelling, choir and football; this can lead to personal transformation, empowerment, a celebration of diversity and an awareness of social justice.

Healing and ritualistic approaches emphasising spirituality enable people to cope and thus move on from their trauma, finding new ways to live life through enhanced wellbeing. Designing and including cultural traditions in participatory arts and sports, such as through spoken word, song, mediation, religious ceremony, sharing meals and poetry, can enable people to reconnect to their heritage and provide the opportunity for sharing, counselling, helping each other and self-expression.

It creates meaning and purpose so that people can cope better with negative feelings. Connecting culture, lived experience and community helps people to cope by preserving language and culture through participatory arts and sporting activities, including
storytelling, creative writing, engaging in museums collections and art-making, which can enhance positive feelings and a sense of belonging to a common heritage.

Reimagining history and intergenerational learning can also help people to cope with the struggles of life. Understanding cultural history, heritage and cultural traditions, through activities such as choirs, song and a retelling of the past, can develop resilience and trust by breaking down cultural barriers and building attachment to a group. This can help people adapt to
challenging situations, reframe a negative sense of self and emotions and address feelings of exclusion.