‘Arts for health: exploring best practice in children's hospitals’ by Professor Penny Curtis // Churchill Fellowship 2017
‘The potential for visual and installation art to distract children within the hospital environment is widely acknowledged, though one play specialist suggested that we should think, rather, of arts providing an “alternative focus” rather than distraction which tends to emphasise something that is done to children. In clinical spaces, the desire to provide, as one arts practitioner put it, “a clear visual space, not too cluttered” can conflict with the aim of introducing art and decoration for the purpose of distraction. An environment considered by the arts practitioner to be “just a mess” can be seen by practitioners as a more child-friendly alternative to a space that is otherwise largely unadorned.’
“Some arts practitioners feel strongly that art should be accessible to children of all ages. One remarked that there is “no resistance” from children across the age range to contemporary art, while another made clear their belief that art portraying animals is liked by both young and older children. Similarly bright colours are seen to be liked by all children. In designing RCH, commissioning of the artwork for the interior design focused on identifying an Illustrator who could provide hand drawn quality which captured light and prompted children’s imagination and spoke to children of all ages. Accessibility, to children of all ages, can also be promoted through spatial design. In the design of Hummingbird house, a deliberate attempt was made to avoid either a look that was too childish or one that suggested it was oriented at teenagers. All rooms in Hummingbird House are therefore designed as bedrooms that can then be dressed according to the age of the child through the choice of bedcovers, light shades et cetera”
KEY POINTS
Arts practitioners tend either to emphasise that all children should be exposed to a broad range of arts styles (all-art-for-all-children) or emphasise that arts should recognise and respond to differences between the presumed tastes, needs and experiences of older and younger children.
While arts practitioners generally avoid the use of images from contemporary culture, these are widely used by health care practitioners seeking to introduce distraction into clinical spaces.
Art can play an important role in linking a children’s hospital to, and embedding it within, its local community and Region.
Cultural diversity can be acknowledge and responded to through the design and use of hospital spaces and through conscious consideration of the type of art displayed within children’s hospitals.
