OVERVIEW
 In a 2002 article that will surely go down as a landmark endorsement for the arts and health field, Richard Smith, Editor of the British Medical Journal, argued that allocating just a small fraction of the current UK healthcare budget – 0.5 per cent was his suggestion – to the arts might yield a homoeopathic-style potency in improving the population’s overall well-being. ‘More and more of life’s processes and difficulties – birth, death, sexuality, ageing, unhappiness, tiredness, loneliness, perceived imperfections in our bodies – are being medicalised,’ he wrote. ‘Medicine cannot solve these problems… This may be where the arts can help. Great book or films will ultimately teach you something useful about your pain.’The contribution of the arts to individuals’ and communities’ physical, mental and social well-being (the definition of health preferred by the World Health Organisation) is well recognised within the Scottish arts sector, and is now increasingly acknowledged by health professionals.
Under the arts and health policies it has been researching and developing over recent years, the Scottish Arts Council has formed and facilitated a number of key partnerships between arts workers and healthcare organisations, as well as working with the Scottish Government towards creating an Arts and Mental Health Development post.
The resulting range of supported practice and successful projects has included:
Artists’ collaboration in the development of new premises at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, with a range of art projects throughout the interior and in the grounds contributing towards the ideal of a healing environment.
Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (GHAT), which houses the largest collection of contemporary art owned by any UK hospital. It is based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, but covers all healthcare facilities in north-east Scotland. In addition to maintaining and exhibiting its core collection, the Trust runs a commissioning programme; hosts workshops for patients in drama, music and creative writing, and runs a poetry project in an acute hospital.
Art in Hospitals, Glasgow, which employs 13 artists to work with the elderly, stroke patients, oncology units and GP practices. At the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow, it works in partnership with Glasgow City Council's Cultural and Leisure Services (CLS) to deliver a comprehensive arts programme to cancer patients.
Hearts&Minds runs the Clowndoctors programme in children’s hospitals and also works with people with dementia through the Elderflowers project.
Art Angel in Dundee works with people with mental health difficulties through a variety of projects which include film, visual arts and creative writing.
Artlink, Edinburgh and the Lothians and Artlink Central between them run a range of programmes including Functionsuite, a hospital-based arts programme which sees patients participating in art projects, a mental health programme, and music and visual art programmes for hospital.
Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust (THAT) has placed artists in specialist medical fields such as paediatrics, stroke rehabilitation, forensic psychiatry and palliative care, and recently appointed an arts development officer.
Make direct contact with organisations and individuals working in this sector through our extensive database of KEY CONTACTS.
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