CHRIS FREMANTLE

There are two opportunities in Edinburgh in August to hear artists talking about working in healthcare (I’m going to be moderating the second of them). Both will touch on mental health contexts, but the second event will particularly focus on them.

Art and the Healing Environment
Sunday August 17th 1.30 – 2.30. Princes Room, Bonhams. Free entry.

The session will be Chaired by Dr. Donnie Ross, an ex-hospital consultant and medical director, and ex-chairman of Grampian Hospitals Art Trust, who also describes himself as a shed-builder, writer and artist – and who writes:

‘….the NHS is about healing but the elements of wholeness, compassion and creativity have been squeezed out by technology, rationality and hard economics …… there should be an intellectual and emotional dimension to hospital art projects which extends beyond the acknowledged essential and valuable putting of nice pictures on walls ….. to give the movement longevity & durability in the face of changing political and economic circumstances.’

Speakers:

Jan-Bert van den Berg – Director of Artlink, Edinburgh

Trevor Jones – Director of Art in Healthcare

Alexander Hamilton – Lead commissioned artist for Dignified Spaces at th New South Glasgow Hospitals

Robin Williams – Gallery manager at Edinburgh’s The Gallery on the Corner

Ian Rawnsley  – Artist and exhibitor in this year’s show

and

Artist as Healer: The relationship between art and the health service
Summerhall Festival 2014
21st August 18.00
Free

How can art contribute to our health? What part can it play in the clinical process?  What are the issues for artists and producers working in healthcare contexts?

Join Artist Maria McCavana, Producer Chris Fremantle and Dr Lindsey MacLeod, Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, as they discuss the role that artists can play in the creation of modern healthcare environments and the impact these can have on the patients that use them.

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I’d also recommend the other UZArts discussion which will focus on Human Rights,

Artist as Activist: The relationship between art and social change
Summerhall Festival 2014
22nd August 2014 18.00
Free

UZ Arts Director and Director of Sura Medura Artist Residency centre, Neil Butler in conversation with Sri Lankan artist and human rights activist Chandraqupta Thenuwara about his life and work. A leading peace activist before, during and after the Sri Lankan civil war, Thenu worked with Neil Butler on the 2007 concert ‘Sing for Peace’, which brought together prominent Tamil, Sinhalese, Burgher and Muslim singers to share the same stage. Thenu has continued his work as a human rights activist in post-war Sri Lanka, maintaining a constant critique of the Sri Lankan war and its aftermath. Thenu will be visiting the UK as UZ Arts Artist in Residence in Glasgow, living and working in the city throughout August and September