Spring Newsletter 2025 - Art in Healthcare

Dear All,

We hope you’re well!

Spring has fully sprung and it’s time for some updates on what we have been up to at Art in Healthcare.

If you can, please also make sure to visit our “Caring Spaces: Artworks by Carers from the Lothians” exhibition taking place at the Scottish Storytelling Centre from Saturday the 7th of June to Saturday the 28th of June, more details of which can be found below.

Best wishes,

Art in Healthcare

Caring Spaces Exhibition

We’re excited to announce that our exhibition “Caring Spaces: Artworks by Carers from the Lothians” will be taking place at the Scottish Storytelling Centre from Saturday the 7th of June to Saturday the 28th of June.

This exhibition celebrates the creativity and resilience of unpaid carers across the Lothians, showcasing a diverse range of artworks produced through Art in Healthcare’s Caring Spaces initiative. In partnership with VOCAL (Voice of Carers across Lothian) and Carers of East Lothian, this project offers carers a supportive environment to explore various artistic techniques, including collage, painting, ceramics, sculpture, drawing and printmaking . Facilitated by Juliana Capes, a multidisciplinary artist and parent carer herself, the programme provides participants with a much-needed respite from their daily responsibilities, fostering a sense of community and personal expression. The artworks on display reflect the participants’ journeys towards self-discovery, emotional resilience, and empowerment, highlighting the therapeutic power of creativity in enhancing mental health and wellbeing.

We hope that you will be able to visit!

Poynder Apartments

We’ve enjoyed working with the team at Eildon Housing Association to develop a pilot project. This has involved installing 16 works from our collection at their extra care development Poynder Apartments in Kelso and providing a series of eight workshops to tenants, delivered by Ursula Bevan Hunter.

Image: Tenants taking part in our watercolour workshops.

“Reuse, Renew” Exhibition

Thank you to everyone who visited our “Reuse, Renew” exhibition at Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh.

This exhibition showcased artwork created by participants of our Room for Art workshops, celebrating the therapeutic power of creativity while emphasising the importance of sustainable art practices.

A huge thank you to OotnoO, Vision Signage and Graphics and the National Galleries of Scotland for their generous donations of materials like vinyl offcuts, ceramic tiles, and exhibition posters. Your support helped us transform waste into something truly meaningful.

An online version of “Reuse, Renew” can be visited using the following link:

https://www.artinhealthcare.org.uk/2025/05/02/reuse-renew/

Image: Some works included in our “Reuse, Renew” exhibition at Out of the Blue Drill Hall.

Funding Updates

In Autumn 2024 we undertook a general fundraising appeal, with the support of a charity fundraising consultancy. To date this has resulted in multiple small awards from trusts and foundations. This development has provided a valuable source of support for our programmes during a challenging period for the charity sector and has also connected us with a range of organisations that are interested in the work that we do.

Earlier this year we were awarded Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland for the period, April 2025 to March 2028. The Programme is designed to provide stable, long-term financial support to creative and cultural organisations in Scotland.

Big Give Arts for Impact Campaign

We took part in the Big Give Arts for Impact, raising a fantastic £5,230 through our campaign which surpassed our target!

A massive thank you to everyone who donated and made this happen.

All money raised will go towards the costs of running our programmes of creative workshops, designed to support adults living with long-term health conditions (mental and/or physical), unpaid caring responsibilities and those experiencing loneliness and isolation.

We also had a brilliant time at our Fundraising Quiz which took place alongside the campaign. Thank you to everyone who came and to Chris from Goose’s quizzes and Brewhemia, Edinburgh.

Images: Teams taking part in our Fundraising Quiz at Brewhemia, Edinburgh.

New Trustees

We are pleased to have welcomed three new Trustees on the Board: Maïna Coroller, Sylvie McGowan and Katherine Shaw.

To find out more about our new trustees, please visit our “About Us” page on our website: https://www.artinhealthcare.org.uk/about-us/

Seredia’s Internship

eredia recently took part in a ten week work placement at Art in Healthcare as part of her studies at Edinburgh University. It was a pleasure having Seredia join the team and we wish her all the best with her studies and next career steps!

To find out more about Seredia’s work placement, please read her blog post on our website:

https://www.artinhealthcare.org.uk/2025/04/02/work-placement-with-art-in-healthcare-seredia/

Image: Seredia standing beside Hermione MacMillan’s work “Radios” from our collection.

Good Luck Iona!

After 8 years at Art in Healthcare, Iona McCann has stepped down from her role as Associate Director (Communities) to take up a position at Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust.

Iona has left an incredibly positive mark on Art in Healthcare, and we wish her all the best in her new role!

Vanessa Paynton, Art in Healthcare’s Director said: “Iona has made a huge contribution to Art in Healthcare’s development and we are grateful for her enthusiasm, energy and generosity. She will be missed by the team, partners and participants. We wish her all the best in her new role and look forward to seeing how Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust’s next chapter evolves.”

Please use the following emails if you are needing to get in touch:

For funding enquiries, please contact Vanessa – vanessa@artinhealthcare.org.uk

For Finance enquiries, please contact Elaine – elaine@artinhealthcare.org.uk

For Room for Art enquiries, please contact Maria – maria@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Anything else, please contact Amy – amy@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Image: Iona giving a speech at the Opening Night of our “Reuse, Renew” exhibition at Out of the Blue Drill Hall.

Taking Art Home Exhibition

We are working with Freelance Curator, Soizig Carey, to develop an exhibition that raises awareness of, and shares learning from, our programme Taking Art Home. Led by artist Jeni Allison, Taking Art Home allowed us to make our art collection and creative workshops available to adults living with long Covid, and those with long-term conditions that find it very difficult to leave the house. The exhibition will take place at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert and online in August 2025.

Soizig: ‘It’s a joy to be working with Art in Healthcare and the participants of Taking Art Home to curate this exhibition. It didn’t take long for me to understand just how meaningful and valuable this programme has been for people across Scotland living with complex and often isolating conditions. For me the arts can be really transformative, and they can also be part of your every day. I feel really strongly that everyone should have access to that process or experience. I’m excited to create both a virtual and physical exhibition that reflects the voices, experiences and relationships within Taking Art Home.’