In Lithuania, the idea of societal impact of art (understood as a capacity of art to engage people in common processes of creative activity, enhance their cooperation and strengthen collective identity) is widely exploited in the cultural policy at the municipal level. In recent years, there have been many initiatives and projects aimed at community building and cooperation through common artistic activities. These projects are funded by municipalities and by the Lithuanian Council for Culture under the “Creative Initiatives of Communities” programme that was initiated in 2018. In 2020-2025, the Council for Culture granted 1.4 million euros for 140 projects of this programme.
Since 2017, the Lithuanian Council for Culture have been implementing the funding programme “Art for Human Wellbeing”, which aims to promote access to culture and the arts for groups experiencing social and cultural exclusion and make a positive impact on the personal well-being and health of the individual. The programme funds projects ensuring the accessibility of professional arts and culture for groups who have limited or no access to culture for objective reasons (e. g. health); projects ensuring cooperation with all categories of health and social care institutions and making professional art and culture accessible to users and services providers of these institutions; creative projects addressing issues of personal well-being or health determined by social and cultural exclusion. In 2020-2025, the Council has allocated about 900 thousand euros to the program.
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