What kind of things does Children’s Health Ireland Arts team do?

We work in two ways.

Firstly, we work with professional artists to install artworks which make our hospital spaces friendlier, more interesting and which bring colour, light and creativity into public and clinical spaces in CHI. We know having high quality child and young person friendly artworks in this environment will make coming here and being here less scary and less stressful. We work with amazing artists to design, make and install these artworks and you will find them in lots of places right across CHI.

Some of our artworks will be really, really big and some might be tiny, some will have buttons you can push and things you can listen to, some of them might make you laugh, and some will be for looking at and getting lost in while you are waiting to see the doctor. All of them will work hard to support children, young people and their families here, to help them see and feel that this is a place made for them, and to show them that what they need and want is at the heart of everything we do here. Whether you are looking, listening or exploring the space, there will be artworks to discover and uncover.

The second thing we do is provide a regular, on-going programme of high-quality arts and creative activities for the children, young people and families who come to CHI, as well as for the staff who work here.

The CHI Arts team works with professional artists and arts organisations to bring a whole variety of artforms to CHI. Throughout the corridors and corners here, you will find professional, skilled artists with trolleys full of paper, paints, pom-poms, string and other things for making and creating. There are musicians with violins and ukeleles. There are dancers dancing, readers reading and players playing. We work right across the healthcare space in both in-patient and outpatient settings, with children and young people of all ages.

Our current programme features live music session throughout CHI, theatre performances for our babies and their families, Sunday afternoon visual art workshops on the wards, a dance project in Oncology, an author in residence in CHI at Crumlin, high quality creative resources in wait spaces, creative writing for young people, a beautiful artwork project in The Alders Unit, art workshops for staff, and a very playful project that will create lots of bespoke games for the new hospital…to name but some of our work!

We don’t just do this by ourselves. All our work is delivered in partnership with professional artists and dedicated clinical and healthcare staff. At the centre of a creatively ambitious programme, are some amazing artists. This is a unique setting and the artists we work with approach the work they do here with experience, skill and care. They meet children and young people where they are at and place their needs and wants at the forefront of the creative work that happens here. They are the fire for our imaginations here and they provide the fuel for the creativity we know helps us cope better, feel more connected and that can support us to get better sooner.

Why is it important to have artworks, artists and arts projects and programmes in CHI?

Because children and young people tell us it is important. Through extensive consultation, we know that patients consider the arts and creativity as an integral part of the healthcare experience here. CHI Arts is a champion for the voice of children and young people in CHI, ensuring that we ask about the things that make our patients happy, that support their health and recovery and enhance their well-being. A high-quality arts programme that champions professional creative practice provides lots of ways for us support our patients and have real impact on their experiences of CHI. It can hold a space for their creativity, their interests and ideas about the world, and their connections to themselves and their networks. It gives space for their whole selves to be nurtured here, and provides ways for their superpower imaginations to come to life, to grow big, and to flourish.

There is also a wealth of research which shows the benefits of arts and creativity here. Supporting our work is a large and growing body of evidence (evidence paper link) of the proven impact of creative programming in paediatric settings and the ways in which access to the arts supports a range of improved clinical and wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and their families. High quality creative engagement has enormous potential to transform and enhance the healthcare experience in CHI. We know that for children and young people with complex health needs ‘access to creativity is not just a nice to have, but fundamental to their experience, to their healthcare community, and to the health system itself’ (APPG, 2017).

The chance to make, to create, to dream and imagine is hugely valuable to the patient experience of CHI and the arts and creativity can have real and lasting impact here. Through joyful, playful and creative engagement children and young people find a voice here and are supported to celebrate that very special superpower of theirs.