Our Vision
Art in Healthcare’s vision is that health and wellbeing for everyone in Scotland are enhanced by art and creativity.
Strategic Plan 2024-2028
Click here to view our Strategic Plan
Our Story
Art in Healthcare is a charity working across Scotland to improve health and wellbeing for individuals and communities by providing opportunities to experience and engage with high quality visual art, artists and creativity - particularly within community, health and social care settings.
Since 1991, when the organisation was affiliated with Paintings in Hospitals, we have been using visual art as a tool to address health inequalities. There is good evidence to show that the arts can support both the mental and physical health of individuals, from supporting self-management of conditions at home to aiding recovery in hospital or providing comfort in a palliative setting. In 2005 we became an independent Scottish charity Art in Healthcare.
We have a large collection of modern and contemporary, predominantly Scottish, art. Our collection is unique in Scotland because it was collected and curated for the purpose of making people feel better and we continue to place ‘care’ at the heart of our approach.
We make the collection accessible to a wide audience, providing curated exhibitions of quality artworks for patients, visitors and staff to experience. Works from our collection are currently exhibited in over thirty hospitals, hospices, residential care homes and medical practices across Scotland. Statistics tell us that whilst not everyone feels comfortable visiting a gallery or museum, most individuals make use of health and social care services.
We provide this service to help patients to feel less defined by their condition or illness, residents to be stimulated, visitors to feel welcome and relaxed and staff to feel valued.
We also deliver a varied and extensive outreach programme, developing projects that engage individuals in activity to benefit their health and wellbeing. We work with lots of partners and a broad range of individuals including unpaid adult carers, new Scots, adults living with chronic health conditions and individuals who have received a recent diagnosis. We have been delivering the established and highly-regarded Room for Art, a social prescription project using visual art to support individuals and communities across Edinburgh for many years.
Our values
Our Team
Jeni Allison
Taking Art Home Lead
Jeni leads Art in Healthcare’s ‘Taking Art Home’ project, delivering weekly art workshops to residents in two care homes in South Lanarkshire as well as an online group with people living with long Covid.
Elaine Kilpatrick
Finance and Office Manager
Elaine manages our day-to-day accounting including the payment of invoices, payroll, and processing income. She has oversight of IT, Health and Safety and our policies and procedures. She also supports the Executive Director with budgeting, HR and risk management.
Iona McCann
Associate Director (Communities)
Iona is responsible for managing our programme of art workshops working with participants to make them the best they can be through our Advisory Group and evaluation. She provides support and supervision for our artists and helps to fundraise to continue and develop our work, developing partnerships for new projects.
Margaret McCormick
Curator
Margaret is an experienced and respected Curator, who works part-time with Art in Healthcare to place works from our collection in health and social care settings.
Amy Miles
Administrator
Amy provides administrative support across all aspects of the charity and contributes to the efficient running of the organisation. A significant amount of her time is spent on activities relating to our large collection.
Vanessa Paynton
Executive Director
Vanessa works with the staff team, trustees and partners to ensure that the charity is well run, impactful and sustainable. Her focus is upon strategic progress, partnerships, operational development, advocacy and income generation at Art in Healthcare.
Our Board
of Trustees
Laura Baxter
Board Member/Trustee
Laura is the Creative Learning Director for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, leading a wide-ranging engagement programme of participatory music and music making that reaches across Scotland and online. Before moving into the performing arts, she worked in various roles across the museums and galleries sector in both the UK and the USA. She is committed to the values that drive Art in Healthcare’s work and to supporting the organisation as it continues to grow and develop.
Hilary Burwell
Chair
Hilary is the curator of a large corporate art collection and understands the power of art outside of the gallery setting. Her professional training has been in art history and museum & collection management. Hilary is delighted to be able to contribute to the valuable work of Art in Healthcare, which has the power to transform the wellbeing journey of people across Scotland.
Lauren Ferguson
Board Member/Trustee
Lauren graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) Degree from Gray's School of Art and recently gained her PGDE qualification from Edinburgh University. Lauren is a practicing artist who has worked and volunteered in a variety of social care, hospital and gallery settings. She hopes to share her skills obtained through these opportunities to ensure Art in Healthcare provide impactful experiences for all.
Lili Fullerton
Board Member/Trustee
Lili has been a participant in the Room for Art Workshops since October 2019, so has experienced first-hand their powerful impact. Her professional background has been in mental health collective advocacy and disability equality training: she wanted to join the Board to help support the organisation, and to provide an additional link between participants and strategic oversight, helping lived experience to be embedded at every level of service provision.
Alistair Keith
Treasurer
Alistair has worked in a number of roles in financial services companies throughout his career as an accountant. These roles have included strategy, planning, financial analysis, corporate development, audit and accountancy. He hopes to bring these skills to help Art In Healthcare build on its great current foundations.
Andrea McKenna
Vice-Chair
Andrea qualified as an Art Therapist and has experience in providing support for people who are neurodivergent or have long term conditions or disabilities and unpaid carers, whilst working for various voluntary sector organisations. She believes passionately in the power of creativity and arts to enhance wellbeing and to reduce social isolation. As an AIH board member she is supporting the staff with Safeguarding.
Graeme McWilliams
Board Member/Trustee
Graeme is a retired in-house lawyer, a Fellow of the Law Society of Scotland, and on its Intellectual Property law accreditation panel. He is a board member and trustee of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, a member of the judging panel of the Scottish Legal Awards, a member of the committee of the Access to Justice Foundation Scotland and chairs its working group.
Rodney Mountain
Board Member/Trustee
Rodney is a recently retired Tayside ENT [ear, nose and throat] Surgeon who is passionate about the benefits that art and design can bring to both patient and staff working for the NHS. He is a V&A Design Champion, and now teaches design thinking and healthcare design methodologies to medical students and art & design students. He is involved in a range of different research projects all aimed at improving the experience of healthcare. He aspires to help AIH by growing more connections and influence throughout Scotland.
Anjana Puri
Board Member/Trustee
Anjana is HR & Operation Director at Integrated Dentalcare Ltd and has been working in the field of human resources [HR] since 2000. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in HR Management and has also completed an MBA, specialising in HR. Her current role involves leading, developing and implementing HR and operation strategies and systems in the business. She hopes that she can help the team at Art in Healthcare with her skills and experience.
Katherine Shaw
Board Member/Trustee
Katherine is Philanthropy Manager at the Edinburgh International Festival, bringing extensive experience as a skilled relationship fundraiser with a longstanding career in the arts. She passionately believes that art and creativity play a vital role in enhancing well-being and fostering healthier, happier communities. Katherine is delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of Art in Healthcare.
Matilda Hall - President 1991
Honorary positions
Matilda Hall
President
Matilda Hall has been a collector and supporter of Scottish art for over fifty years. Matilda Hall was the founder of Paintings in Hospitals Scotland which later become Art in Healthcare. Matilda Hall continues her long association with the charity she created by serving as President of Art in Healthcare.
Bill Hare
Honorary Curator
Bill was Exhibition Organiser at the Talbot Rice Gallery and taught art history with the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art. Since 1995 he has concentrated on teaching and curating, with a special interest in post-war Scottish art. He is now an Honorary Teaching Fellow in Scottish art history at Edinburgh University and Honorary Curator of the University's Fine Art Collection.
Contact us
Art in Healthcare
18 York Place
Edinburgh
EH1 3EP
Telephone: 0131 555 7638
Email: admin@artinhealthcare.org.uk
We are proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer.
Living Wage Scotland aims to increase the number of employees in Scotland who receive the Real Living Wage. We are happy to be a part of the Real Living Wage movement; "a growing civil society campaign that believes a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay".
To find out more about the movement, please visit: https://scottishlivingwage.org/
We are proud to be an accredited Carer Positive Employer.
Carer Positive aims to encourage employers to create a supportive working environment for carers in the workplace.
To find out more about Carer Positive, please visit:
https://www.carerpositive.org/
We are proud to be an accredited disability confident committed employer.
Disability confident is creating a movement of change, encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people.
To find out more, please visit:
https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/
We are proud to use the Creative Health Quality Framework.
The Creative Health Quality Framework is a ground breaking tool that clearly articulates what "good" looks like for creative and cultural initiatives that aim to support people's health and wellbeing.
To find out more, please visit:
https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/resources/creative-health-quality-framework
We are proud supporters of the Young Person's Guarantee.
The Young Person's Guarantee brings together employers, partners and young people. It aims to connect every 16 to 24 year old in Scotland to an opportunity.
To find out more, please visit:
https://youngpersonsguarantee.scot/
We pledge to support our employees going through the menopause in the workplace.
To find out more, please visit:
https://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/menopause-workplace-pledge/employer/