Julie McCarthy

Strategic Lead for Creative Health

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Speaker Biography

Julie McCarthy is a nationally recognised leader in creative health and arts for social change. She is Strategic Lead for Creative Health at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, where she leads the delivery of Greater Manchester’s pioneering Creative Health Strategy and the ambition for Greater Manchester to become the world’s first Creative Health City Region.

Passionate about the power of creativity to transform lives and systems, Julie has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of culture, health and social change. Previously, she led the development and realisation of The Horsfall, the UK’s first dedicated arts and mental health venue for young people, as part of mental health charity 42nd Street. Her career spans cultural policy, health, community development and international development, including work in the UK, Brazil and Peru. She is the author of Enacting Participatory Development (Routledge, 2004).

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