Exhibition at the Scottish Parliament December 2021

Exhibition at the Scottish Parliament December 2021 

Showcasing current projects and marking 30 years since Art in Healthcare was founded in 1991 

We had an exhibition at the Scottish Parliament this month in order to raise awareness of our work within community and healthcare settings. This showcase aimed to promote our core values, demonstrating that we care for those we work with, our art collection and our environment.

At Art in Healthcare, we aim to improve health and wellbeing for individuals and communities by providing opportunities to experience and engage with high quality visual art, artists and creativity. 

The Collection

We believe the arts has a powerful effect on wellbeing and human flourishing and this guides all we do. Our collection is made available for loan to health and social care providers across Scotland. We curate exhibitions in clinical environments with the aim of creating welcoming, engaging and stimulating environments for patients, families, and staff.

The benefits of art in medical environments have proven to help with reducing anxiety and providing positive distraction at times when patients are dealing with the unknown, waiting, recovering or receiving treatment.

A Culture Strategy for Scotland [2020] presents an aspiration in which “culture is woven through everyday life, shapes and is shaped by society, and its transformative potential is experienced by everyone”. We share this aspiration. 

Outreach work

We work collaboratively and in partnership to make connections between people and art and to encourage health and social equality. A growing body of research documents the benefits that the arts can make to individuals and communities, and we know that they have the power to support individuals to self-manage long term health conditions, speed up recovery and support rehabilitation. Evaluation undertaken by us, and others, shows us that participation in creative programmes has significant impacts and can reduce loneliness and isolation, increase resilience, provide social networks and increase confidence and self-esteem. 

Having someone to talk to for a couple of hours on a Monday morning and being able to do something creative at the same time has been a bigger stress relief than I can possibly put into words. Room for Art has been a beacon of hope in these dark times.  

Participant, on-line classes, 2021 

 I have found over the time I have been attending Room for Art some of the benefits are immediate like making new friends, having a specific place with a great purpose to go to, but other important benefits have been coming over the longer term like it’s easier to cope with a cared for person and my brain works better across the scale of everyday tasks.