Arts in health programme
As part of Children’s Health Ireland’s commitment to place arts, creativity and imagination at the heart of the child’s and young person’s experience, we are developing an Arts Programme for the new children's hospital and paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres.
Arts in health at CHI
Page contents
On this page you will find information about:
Our work
Our work is based on the growing understanding of the positive and transformative impact that arts experiences can have on children and young people in paediatric settings.
As we prepare to move to the new children’s hospital, the CHI Arts in Health Programme is working across three strands of work.
- Integrate brilliant and meaningful arts experiences into the built environment.
- Get the three children’s hospitals in Dublin thinking, feeling, and acting as one, through creative programming.
- Embed the arts into the journey of the patient through CHI now and into the future.
Some of our initiatives
Sharing artwork by children and young people
Getting our sleeves rolled up and making art with children and young people is a big part of what CHI Arts do. We have collaborated with social enterprises We Make Good and PALLs Limerick to produce a set of frames that will exhibit artworks made by children and young people attending CHI.
These clever frames have been designed to allow us to change artworks that are displayed in them, meaning children and young people from across the children’s hospitals will be able to show their artworks and see those made by others.
The treasure chest
As CHI gears up for the move to the new children’s hospital, we’re taking stock of what we are bringing with us. It’s not just the staff, patients and families that are on the move. Some of our artworks are too.
Back in 2021, a group of CHI staff came together to decide which artworks and other nice things should be brought forward from the original CHI hospitals to the new hospital. This project is called ‘Treasure Chest’ and gets its name from the trove of wonderful objects and artworks that can be found in the three original children’s hospitals in Dublin.
Former CHI staff member, Eilís Murphy, brilliantly describes her reasons for getting involved in the project.
“When I saw the call to join the Treasure Chest Project, I was immediately drawn to this concept. A treasure chest is such an evocative and symbolic memory of childhood – the excitement of collecting treasures and creating memories. It’s about looking back to look forward!”
Read more about the treasure chest here.
The ‘Stepping Stones’ Arts in Health Project (2020 - 2023)
The Stepping Stones Arts in Health Project at The Alders Unit (previously known as St. Louise’s Unit) began back in 2020 as a means of preparing for the relocation of this service from CHI at Crumlin to CHI at Tallaght. Read more.
Arts in Health Programme - Creating Rainbows Summer Camps
As part of Children's Health Ireland's commitment to placing arts, creativity, and imagination at the heart of the child's and young person's experience, we are developing an Arts Programme for the new children's hospital and paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres. Read more.
Our Videos
The Balloon Trees
Our Balloon Trees are two unique sister artworks designed and made by Róisín de Buitléar for the children, young people, staff and families attending the CHI Paediatric Outpatient and Urgent Care Centre at Connolly and the CHI Paediatric Outpatient and Emergency Care Unit at Tallaght. These artworks welcome people to the space, brings colour, light and a sense of playfulness into these buildings. Take a look at our short video which explains how they were made and installed. The Balloon Tree artworks were commissioned by CHI Arts and generously funded by the NCH Foundation Tallaght.