Arts and Health
Artform News
Currently updating
Artform Definition
Arts & Health refers mainly to arts activities that take place within the healthcare environment, providing new access and participation opportunities for artists, patients, health service staff and visitors.
Any involvement in the arts has a positive effect on health. For example, the Dreams project at the Mater Hospital has shown that contact with the arts whilst in hospital can make people more relaxed, relieve stress and worries, and relieve pain and symptoms.
Taking an holistic view, the wellbeing of individuals and groups in society is enhanced by being connected to the arts – any kind of arts at any kind of quality level.
The Arts Council supports projects where artists work towards creative outcomes, alongside art therapists, play workers and medical staff. We do not fund art therapy – in the same way that we do not fund, for example, art teachers.
Arts & Health in Northern Ireland has been developing since 1989, with the Royal Hospitals in Belfast being amongst the pioneers.
One of the lead organisations is ArtsCare, which currently has 20 artists in residence and seven Clown Doctors working in health venues throughout Northern Ireland.
Publications and Information
Public Art Handbook for Northern Ireland (published 2005, Arts Council of Northern Ireland)
Part One ( PDF - 2Mb )
Part Two ( PDF - 2Mb )
Both parts ( PDF - 4Mb )
Dreams : published by ArtsCare and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in conjunction with the Mater Hospital Trust, Belfast, 2006.
Current initiatives
- Arts Council lottery funding has supported the development of integrated artwork in new hospitals and healthcare environments. Artists work closely with architects and building project teams at the earliest stages of development, before construction begins.
- The Arts Council is one of the funding partners for ArtsCare, which has 20 artists-in-residence working in visual art, dance, music and creative writing, plus seven Clown Doctors and many other artists involved on a project basis.
- The Northern Ireland Clown Doctors service, supported by ArtsCare, has been seed-funded by the Arts Council to develop a service using performing arts skills for regular, repeat visits to engage with children who are critically ill and/or long term hospital patients.
- Arts Council funding has supported theatre companies and professional musicians to work with children and young people bringing productions into hospital wards and respite homes.
- A full day seminar looking at evaluation of arts in health was held in April 2003, organised by ArtsCare. With Arts Council funding, a number of organisations in Northern Ireland have since carried out action-research projects.
- The Community Development and Health Network will shortly be publishing the results of an action research project examining the value of arts and health.
Contact Us
Further information on any of the Council’s funding programmes and/or its strategic interests in Arts & Health may be obtained from:
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
MacNeice House
77 Malone Road
Belfast . BT9 6AQ
Tel: 028 9038 5200