Consulting
Many hospital administrators and clinical staff understand the value of the arts within hospitals but don't know where to begin to put a program together. The use of professional artists to conduct arts program enriches the experience of the patient, staff or visitor.
Exhibitions enhance the environment and can offer relief from the noise and visual austerity of a hospital. Arts In Health works within hospitals and healthcare environments with hospital administrators and clinical staff to utilize and understand the value of the arts in enhancing well-being. Our area of expertise includes pediatrics, youth at risk, adult programs, creative aging, as well as art aid and field-work for crisis intervention.
While much of this work is concerned with enhancing physical spaces, it is the belief that the arts can be a powerful tool in opening individual potential and developing community and cultural literacy that drives us. Collaboration and participation is the core of all consultation, with projects designed to actively engage all stake-holders. Working with professional artists we conduct arts programs that enrich the experience of the patient, staff and visitor. In addition, curated temporary and permanent exhibitions enhance the environment, offering relief from the visual austerity of the clinical hospital setting.
By engaging with the public health sector, cultural organizations and educational institutions we can work together to establish more healthy communities.
Curatorial / Exhibition Coordination
Curating exhibitions in a hospital environment is very different from curating exhibitions in art galleries or other cultural institutions. There is little opportunity for didactic and visitors tend to be highly visceral with little patience for highly conceptual work. Work must nevertheless be of the highest integrity but also site appropriate. One painting may be welcomed in orthopedics but not in obstetrics or oncology. With over 16 years of curatorial experience I have arranged exhibits - both temporary and permanent - in transit shelters, hospitals, healthcare facilities and public and commercial galleries and museums.
Archive and art collections management
Frequently hospitals have ephemera form their histories and it is important to preserve and maintain these as potentially valuable social history documents. I have advised on the care of historic documents and photographs for hospitals in Ireland and have negotiated the transfer and donation of these valuable records with cultural and national archive institutions. I have also advised on the proper storage and care of remaining works of art and photographs. I have also curated permanent exhibitions that reflect the history of a hospital or medical research. This can also assist in improving a clinical ambiance and with wayfinding in a confusing healthcare environment.
Community development
Healthcare facilities can be unwelcome places. People do not chose to visit them, yet they can be at the heart of a community. Engaging visitors in a hands-on arts activity can relieve the stress of visiting the hospital and communicate a sense of caring for the whole person in a place that is focused on a clinical care model.
Project creation/coordination
Hospitals are difficult places to navigate. The focus of the practitioners has to be on the clinical care of the patient. However, more and more, evidence is showing that caring for the whole person - both the physical, psychosocial aspects - leads to a quick recovery. My extensive experience developing and coordinating programs within a healthcare setting ensures that the patient is responded to without interfering with the clinical care of practitioners thus ensuring programs are fully developed through consultation and education of the practitioners.
Training and recruiting artists
Artists working within a hospital environment or with people who are vulnerable and institutionalized is challenging. Ensuring the hospital has engaged artists ready for the challenge and specialized concerns of the hospital administration is vital to the success of any arts in health program.
• Training for artists in the field of Arts and Health is needed for a number of areas including child protection, health and safety, boundaries, etc.
• A Code of Practice and Ethics for artists working in Healthcare contexts is needed.
• Procedures for Police Clearance, when it is required, need to be clarified.
• As artists working in health care contexts did not come through the health care system of education and work, there is a real need for professional support for them working in this context. This could take the form of a mentorship program with a health care professional, access to a "supervisor " as in the case of art therapy, membership of a networking body, etc
• There is a need to standardize conditions for artists working in health care contexts throughout Ireland. These conditions would include salary, access to training, working space and materials, annual leave etc.
• Artists need to be supported by a coordinator / project manager to enable, support and champion the work.
