News & Opportunities

Painted Image shows the silhouette of a family walking on a mountain against a red and orange sunsetcreated as part of 'Rengarific' in the HARP Sprint, summer 2020

10 September

New report highlights innovative work in arts and health in Wales

Rosie Dow outlines why we’re delighted to see the Baring Foundation highlight some of the brilliant work happening in Wales’ innovative arts and health sector.

Scrabble letters spell out 'dementia' on a white background.

7 September

Can you help us understand more about health inequalities and dementia care?

We recently collaborated with people who have lived experience of dementia care to produce short films illustrating their experience.

Handwritten words 'Covid-19' are written in different directions on a white piece of paper.

22 June

Expressions of Interest: COVID Behaviours Programme

We are looking for public sector or community partners from across Wales to take part in a new innovation programme focu

24 May

New team members join Y Lab

We’re proud to announce that Y Lab has recently welcomed Anna Hamilos as Head and Co-Lead of Y Lab.

A shadow of a person stands in the middle of the picture looking out to sea

7 May

Dementia Friendly Diversity Awards 2021

This year, Alzheimer's Society Cymru launched a Dementia Friendly Diversity Awards 2021 (Wales) and the winner was announced in their

A black and white image. On the left is an arrow pointing upwards in a circle. On the right is an arrow pointing left in a circle.

4 May

Challenge upon challenge: Three things to avoid when running a challenge fund

The Cardiff Capital Region has recently launched a Challenge Fund to ‘harness the power of innovation in procurement’.

ID: Black and white photo of an elder woman smiles at a camera while dancing with partner

15 March

Announcing the HARP Nourish projects

Together with Arts Council of Wales, we are excited to announce 10 projects that will work on scaling and sustaining arts and health activity across the country.

ID: small green seedlings are being watered by a watering can above and out of shot.

15 March

HARP Nourish

Responding directly to the needs arising out of the pandemic, and recognising that innovation is taking place throughout the sector at the moment, we are aiming to learn more about how the arts can

ID: dandelion seeds take flight in the air

15 March

HARP Seed

In partnership with Arts Council of Wales, the HARP Seed programme is about collaborating to generate - or ‘seed’ - those initial great ideas and innovate at pace.

14 March

Brief for html newsletter template

We are looking for a designer to design and code a reusable html newsletter template for use in Mailchimp.

Image shows two women, foster carers from Flintshire, walking in a park with a dog beside them.

5 March

Sharing our learning from Innovate to Save

The Innovate to Save (I2S) Programme, run by Y Lab between 2017-2020, was an experiment in using blended finance to support innovation projects in Wales.

18 December

Next of Kin: a performance and discussion about dementia, D/deaf communication and healthcare

As part of the 2020 Festival of Social Science, Y Lab presented the performance of a new play 'Next of Kin' alongside a discussion about dementia, hearing loss and the role

A view of orange pointed buildings in a row creating a zigzag effect over a white background.

23 November

Put your money where your mouth is: Improving diversity in funding

What are the limitations in the system that mean funding isn't more equal?

Image shows a woman in green trousers and a blue top lying on a bed surrounded by clocks on the wall telling different times. It is by Maxine a Rengarific participant.

29 September

Innovating in arts and health during a pandemic

Programme manager, Rosie Dow, talks about the challenges and joys of arts and health innovation during COVID-19.

ID: black and white image shows a row of coats hung in a shed over several pairs of boots in a row at Down to Earth on the Gower.

28 August

Evaluating a programme: What have we learned so far about Innovate to Save?

How and why does innovation happen in public services?

Image shows a question mark in a neon light surrounded by neon rectangle.

12 August

We need you: Arts and Health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Y Lab has launched a survey that aims to find out more about how arts and health can address challenges and improve access to online delivery.

2 June

Y Lab and COVID-19

Our Academic Director, James Lewis, writes about what we are working on and how we are responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

A woman stands to speak to a group of people.

18 May

New Public Involvement Group for Arts and Health Research

We are launching a public involvement and patient experience in research group (PIPER) for Arts and Health in Wales. Read more about what it will do and how to join.

Image shows a group of young children sitting next to each other on a park bench wearing coats and looking out at some trees.

11 May

Flintshire Council becomes first in Wales to introduce Mockingbird programme

Council in North Wales will use £1.15million in Innovate to Save funding to roll-out the Mockingbird family model for looked after children and their foster families.

27 April

HARP COVID-19 Sprint Challenge

How can the arts support people living through lockdown? How can access to arts interventions be improved? Our sprint challenge aimed to build our knowledge to support more people in Wales.

Photo shows a plane flying across a blue sky with a large white cloud and trailing the message 'stay at home'

27 March

Arts and health in creative isolation: What now?

HARP programme manager, Rosie Dow, explores what we know so far about arts and health in the context of a coronavirus pandemi

18 February

Introducing Public Services Pioneers: tools for change and how to use them

Alexis Palá explains more about our event: What is it and why should you come?

photo of a footpath through overhanging trees in a forest

8 January

Why measure public sector innovation? What we’ve learned so far from the Nordics

For the past 6 months, Y Lab has been exploring how countries around the world measure public service innovation in different ways. Here's what we've found out so far.

9 December

Why we are taking a People Powered Results approach to Arts and Health

In April 2019, we announced a new Arts and Health programme with Arts Council of Wales and Welsh NHS Confederation.

A photo of library shelves filled with books of different colours and sizes.

6 November

Why I have joined Y Lab: Introducing Dr Steve Garner

We are delighted to welcome Dr Steve Garner to the team. In his first blog for Y Lab, he shares his research background and what he plans to focus on next.

Image shows two women and a man sitting at a table and discussing a project.

25 October

Transparency in innovation funding: What are the invisible barriers facing women?

Are funders reaching the widest possible pool of innovators to publicise their programmes? What are the barriers that face women that we may not be able to see?

Photo of a hand with a finger poking out and on the end of the finger is a red sticker saying 'I Voted'

30 September

How can governments increase public participation in decision-making?

What are the best ways to involve people in decisions that affect their lives? Research Fellow, Emyr Williams, explores some options that could be more widely used in Wales.

31 July

What do you really need to innovate?

We know that the innovation can’t happen with just funding alone.

Photo of trees in a wood with their trunks painted in bright colours, green, orange, pink and yellow.

18 July

Using the arts for health and wellbeing

Y Lab has launched a new programme of work to explore the contribution of the arts in keeping people healthy in Wales.

Image of coloured lights, blue fading to yellow, fading to pink.

17 July

We need to change government's innovation mindset

Mindsets greatly affect the tools we use and the outcomes we achieve; it’s time for governments and those working with public services to confront this reality.

Image of a person looking through binoculars in a wooded area with a lady in a purple t-shirt standing next to her looking in the same direction.

12 July

Announcing the first Innovate to Save Loan

Leonard Cheshire will use a loan of £1million to develop and scale their Innovate to Save project across Wales.

Image of beams of light on a concrete wall falling diagonally from top left corner to bottom right

21 June

Can we mitigate gender bias in innovation funding?

Research shows that gender influences the outcome of innovation funding applications. How can we understand this better and test ways to guard against unconscious bias?

What we're working on

News & Opportunities

New report highlights innovative work in arts and health in Wales

Can you help us understand more about health inequalities and dementia care?

Expressions of Interest: COVID Behaviours Programme

New team members join Y Lab

Dementia Friendly Diversity Awards 2021

Challenge upon challenge: Three things to avoid when running a challenge fund

Announcing the HARP Nourish projects

HARP Nourish

HARP Seed

Brief for html newsletter template

Sharing our learning from Innovate to Save

Next of Kin: a performance and discussion about dementia, D/deaf communication and healthcare

Put your money where your mouth is: Improving diversity in funding

Innovating in arts and health during a pandemic

Evaluating a programme: What have we learned so far about Innovate to Save?

We need you: Arts and Health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Y Lab and COVID-19

New Public Involvement Group for Arts and Health Research

Flintshire Council becomes first in Wales to introduce Mockingbird programme

HARP COVID-19 Sprint Challenge

Arts and health in creative isolation: What now?

Introducing Public Services Pioneers: tools for change and how to use them

Why measure public sector innovation? What we’ve learned so far from the Nordics

Why we are taking a People Powered Results approach to Arts and Health

Why I have joined Y Lab: Introducing Dr Steve Garner

Transparency in innovation funding: What are the invisible barriers facing women?

How can governments increase public participation in decision-making?

What do you really need to innovate?

Using the arts for health and wellbeing

We need to change government's innovation mindset

Announcing the first Innovate to Save Loan

Can we mitigate gender bias in innovation funding?