arts and health
But, says Roberts, it is still often an afterthought.
Design is king “Hospitals are key civic spaces in which the public can interact with innovative contemporary artistic practices”, she adds. Roberts has spent 30 years as a curator in public art centres and museums and, unlike most hospital arts curators, who work for charitable trusts, she is employed directly by the NHS. This means her colleagues are the clinical staff at the forefront of the NHS, with whom she has built essential relationships when developing projects; from permanent, site-specific visual artworks, to more performance-based interventions involving music, dance, poetry and literature.
One of the stumbling blocks
currently, she reveals, is how artists are chosen and commissioned. “We generally work with modest
Hospitals are key civic spaces in which the public can interact with innovative contemporary artistic practices
budgets and manage to deliver enriching projects. Let’s be clear, though: art projects are not frontline medicine; they are not saving lives. “We fundraise for individual projects
from external sources, so we are accustomed to working resourcefully.” Vital Arts is approached by clinical
staff who recognise an opportunity for an arts intervention.
The team then assesses the context, identifies possible artists, and develops with the selected artist and stakeholders a proposal that responds specifically to that space and the people who use it. Simultaneously, Vital Arts seeks funding from charitable sources; all the while steering the proposed project to comply with health and safety and infection control protocols and a range of other parameters that a hospital context presents.
And, of course, paramount to Vital Arts is to ensure the art is of exceptional quality.
Building relationships “It’s important to have experience working with artists,” says Roberts. “Often artists with international
reputations are keen to work with us. Everyone in the UK has some connection to the NHS, and many artists agree to work within our modest budgets in order to give back to the NHS." She concludes: “Art has to be site specific, patient responsive, and sensitive to the particular hospital context. “Work within a bereavement suite, for example, will be totally different to art installed in a paediatric waiting area. “We think long and hard about who
we are commissioning for and why we are doing it. It's a labour of love. “And support at board level is key. Ideally senior management and clinical staff would believe in the benefits that ambitious art can have to enhance recovery, and improve the patient experience and clinical environment.” Recent projects by Vital Arts have included a ward-wide installation by cartoonist, Tom Gauld, which was developed after conversations with the cystic fibrosis patients using the unit. The project is philosophical and gently humorous, and absolutely appropriate for the context. The organisation also has a museum-
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