How Art Creates Health

Alanus University invites you to the cultural festival at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck from 6 to 7 December 2025.

Together with the Essen University Hospital Foundation and Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences is organizing the cultural festival “How Art Creates Health” at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen on 6 and 7 December 2025. The event explores how art, music, dance, and theater can support and psychosocially strengthen people affected by the 2021 flood disaster in the Ahr Valley and neighboring regions—an approach whose effectiveness has been demonstrated by numerous studies. The World Health Organization WHO also points in its analyses to the potential of artistic activities for physical and mental well-being.

At the heart of the festival is the project “kreARTiv – from shadow into light,” developed at the Institute for Artistic Therapies (RIArT) at Alanus University under the direction of Prof. Dr. Sabine C. Koch. Since 2022, more than 30 art, music, and dance therapy groups in the Ahr Valley and neighboring regions have supported people affected by the floods. “Our work shows impressively how artistic processes can create safety, expressive power, and inner stability,” says Sabine Koch. According to Koch, an initial accompanying study already indicates a decline in trauma symptoms among participants. The resulting images, films, and performances made possible “a rare closeness to individual stories while also inspiring hope, because they reveal creative potential after severe upheaval.”

These works form the core of a major digital exhibition, which will be presented to the public for the first time during the festival. For the Arp Museum, the presentation is an important contribution to cultural participation in the region. The museum’s director, Dr. Julia Wallner, emphasizes: “Especially in times of crisis, art creates connection and opens up new perspectives. This festival shows how artistic forms of expression strengthen people and allow community to emerge. We are pleased to provide the space for this.”

In addition, visitors can look forward to a diverse program: exhibitions; art, music, dance, and theater workshops for all age groups; capoeira performances; and guided tours of the museum. On a panel, artists, politicians, therapists, researchers, and people affected will discuss how art can contribute to health in challenging life situations.

Other participating projects: Kunstmobil (Stefanie Manhillen), Skulptur HOPE (Dennis Josef Meseg), Büchertisch (Team Gedenken), Essen (Merida e.V.).

Admission to the festival and the museum is free of charge. Everyone interested is warmly invited to take part in this community event.

Venue:
Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck
Hans-Arp-Allee 1, 53424 Remagen

Date:
06–07 Dec 2025
Press contact:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

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