Summer Newsletter 2025 - Art in Healthcare

Dear All,

We hope you’re having a lovely summer!

We’ve had a busy few months at Art in Healthcare and have lots of exciting updates for you including some new members of the team.

Best wishes,

Art in Healthcare

Introducing Tarka, Claire and Margaret!

We are delighted to welcome Tarka Heath, Margaret McCormick and Claire Bell to the staff team.

Tarka has joined us as our new Creative Communities Lead. Tarka brings a wealth of knowledge in collaborative and creative programming, valuing the arts as a tool for supporting healthier and happier lives.

Originally from Dundee, her socially engaged practice is rooted in care, playfulness, and wellbeing. She is passionate about art bringing people together to find solace, self-expression, joy, and meaningful action.

In her new role, Tarka will lead our efforts to increase equitable access to visual art and creativity for individuals and communities across Scotland. Working closely with our team, artists, and partners, she will ensure that our programmes are inclusive, impactful, and grounded in our core values.

You can contact Tarka at: tarka@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Claire is starting her role as Creative Communities Coordinator. Claire has experience in creative and therapeutic roles across the arts and mental health sectors as well as being very engaged in her own art practice. She is most passionate about supporting people to access spaces in which they can feel free to be creative, explore and express themselves, enjoy the process and connect with others. She is looking forward to her new role supporting the Room For Art programme.

You can contact Claire at: claire@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Margaret has joined the team in the role of Collection and Exhibitions Lead.

Margaret brings years of experience passionately working with artists and partner organisations to engage communities with visual art and creativity.

The role will focus on increasing access to artworks from our collection, creating a programme of exhibitions that will be displayed in health and social care spaces across Scotland.

You can contact Margaret at: margaret@artinhealthcare.org.uk

Caring Spaces Exhibition Opening

We had a wonderful opening for our “Caring Spaces: Artworks by Carers from the Lothians” exhibition at The Scottish Storytelling Centre which ran from the 7th to the 28th of June.

This exhibition celebrates the creativity and resilience of unpaid adult carers who live across the Lothians, showcasing a diverse range of artworks produced through Art in Healthcare’s Caring Spaces programme.

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.

If you missed the chance to visit the exhibition, an online version is available at:

https://www.artinhealthcare.org.uk/2025/08/21/caring-spaces-artworks-by-carers-from-the-lothians/

Image: Our Caring Spaces Exhibition Opening at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

“Taking Me Outside, Inside” Exhibition

We also launched our “Taking me Outside, Inside” exhibition at Forth Valley Royal Hospital which is on display until the 5th of September.

The exhibition celebrates and shares learning from Art in Healthcare’s programme, Taking Art Home. A Scotland wide project, led by artist Jeni Allison, Taking Art Home allowed Art in Healthcare to make our art collection and creative workshops available online for adults living with long Covid, and those with long-term health conditions that find it very difficult to leave home.

Taking me Outside, Inside is an exhibition presented by Art in Healthcare, curated by Soizig Carey. The exhibition is generously supported by Creative Scotland, Artlink Central and Forth Valley NHS.

To find out more about the exhibition, please visit:

https://www.artinhealthcare.org.uk/2025/07/31/taking-me-outside-inside-2/

Image: One Section of out “Taking me Outside, Inside” Exhibition at Forth Valley Hospital.

Room for Art

We are excited for our cornerstone project Room for Art to start up again after a summer break. Room for Art will commence in September with 5 pop up art studios across Edinburgh. This upcoming block of programming has been informed by an Artist Consultancy with all 5 lead artists and a participant reflection day held in the Portrait Gallery.

This summer we also came together at Dr. Neils Garden for a brilliant summer workshop hosted by Sara from Art Buds Collective. The workshop focused on the theme of ‘Elder’ which has a history of medicinal uses and is deeply rooted in folklore across cultures.

Image: Our Summer Workshop hosted by Sara from Art Buds Collective.

Funding Update

As many of you will know the current funding climate is very challenging and the pressure on trusts and foundation has increased as other avenues of support have declined. We are therefore delighted to have secured a number of awards that will allow us to continue to deliver our important and impactful services this year.

Significant awards from the Garfield Weston Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund will allow our Room for Art and Taking Art Home programmes to continue and develop. We will continue to offer in-person and on-line creative opportunities to individuals living in Scotland, supporting their health and wellbeing.

We have also received support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Museum Galleries Scotland to make improvements to our art store and art collection. The grants will enable us to better care for, and share, our collection. We will reconfigure and add to current storage units, improve light and temperature controls and introduce new systems to protect the most vulnerable works in our art store. We will also employ a technician and an apprentice to undertake maintenance, repair and conservation on the collection – getting it ‘exhibition ready’ and allowing us to share it with partners in health and social care venues across Scotland. This programme of work will result in our collection being better cared for, improved working conditions for our team and will improve access to the collection for existing and new partners and artists.

National Arts in Hospitals Network

Art in Healthcare’s Director Vanessa Paynton has been part of the National Arts in Hospital Network [NAHN] Steering Group for the last twelve months that has been creating guidance for anyone interested in running a hospital arts programme. The guidance was launched in London on the 2nd of July.

This is the first comprehensive web-based guidance for establishing and managing hospital arts programmes across the UK at University College London Hospitals (UCLH). The new toolkit provides evidence-based framework for embedding high-quality arts interventions in every hospital to improve patient care and staff wellbeing.

The toolkit comprises 6 comprehensive guidance documents, 16 inspirational case studies from UK hospital arts programmes, and 14 practical tools and templates for immediate application. Key areas include:

Governance: Foundational management and funding guidance
Strategy: Planning arts programmes aligned with NHS priorities
Evaluation: Understanding value and impact through effective assessment
Collection Management: Starting and developing hospital art collections
Art and Environment: Integrating art into healthcare spaces
Participatory Arts: Engaging patients and staff in creative activities

The guidance addresses NAHN’s mission for every hospital in the UK to engage staff and patients through arts to promote health and wellbeing, supporting both newcomers and experienced practitioners, and is available as a free download at www.nahn.org.uk/arts-in-hospitals-guidance

Illustrative Map

We recently commissioned the artist Emily Learmont to produce this beautiful Illustrative Map of Art in Healthcare’s Services (pictured below).The map portrays our key services including exhibitions and workshops and their reach across Scotland. Emily has a longstanding involvement with Art in Healthcare, with works in the collection and previously delivering art workshops.

Emily Learmont: “I have been involved with Art in Healthcare since my painting Drumsheugh Swimming Pool was acquired after my degree show at The Glasgow School of Art. There are now eleven of my paintings in the collection, including some that were commissioned as part of a project to create art specially for children. Over the years, I have led art workshops for AiH in healthcare venues such as the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Rachel House (CHAS) and Leuchie House. Recently I was asked to create a map of Scotland illustrating the location of AiH’s exhibitions, group workshops and participants in online workshops. I really love being involved with AiH and seeing how art can help people to feel relaxed and positive in situations that are often very stressful.”