Find your “flow” at Westbury Arts Centre

Its February…..Christmas sparkle long gone…. Summer holidays an age away…..Feeling worn down by the continuous damp and grey weather? Struggling to motivate yourself against the wall of gloomy news?

A survey by scientists at Anglia Ruskin University has shown that taking part in arts and crafts activity can help anyone feel better. So this may be the ideal time to book that Westbury course that you have been thinking about. From acrylic painting to willow weaving, there is a huge range of courses and workshops for you to try, whether you are a newbie or experienced.

Adults who took part in the Anglian Ruskin survey rated aspects of their wellbeing and reported on whether they took part in arts or crafts.

The results revealed that people who engaged with creating arts and crafting had greater ratings for happiness, life satisfaction and feeling that life was worthwhile than those who did not, even after taking into account factor also known to have an impact on feelings of wellbeing.

Those who take part in arts and crafts often have a sense of mastery or “flow” when they experience control, achievement and self-expression, explained one of the report’s authors and this often has positive impacts on feelings of wellbeing.

Many students have told us about the benefits they have found from their classes at Westbury Arts Centre. Read more below. Switching on to creating, switching off from work "I rediscovered that childlike delight in just making art for the sake of it." Moving seamlessly from art to engineering

Source: Keyes H, Gradidge S, Forwood SE, Gibson N, Harvey A, Kis E, Mutsatsa K, Ownsworth R, Roeloffs S and Zawisza M (2024) Creating arts and crafting positively predicts subjective wellbeing. Front. Public Health 12:1417997. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1417997