On Friday 15th April the University of Exeter will host a free public exhibition as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project that examines the relationship between medicine and the modern arts. The exhibition explores interconnections between the arts, health and well being in Devon and consists of exhibits by local arts and health organisations.
Exeter is one of the first places where psychological art therapies were used. Established at Countess Wear, the Withymead community was one of the first to experiment in combining psychotherapy and the arts. In response to people fleeing the blitz of 1942, the organisation continued to pioneer the arts therapy approach until the 1960s. Today this honourable history of arts and health in Devon has bloomed into many initiatives, some of which are outlined in the exhibition ‘Arts Health and Wellbeing in Devon’. From humanising healthcare environments, to educational, psychological, community, social inclusion and special needs based approaches; the arts in Devon continue to serve the health and well being of its people.
Samuel Goodman, postgraduate researcher in English at the University of Exeter said, ‘Medical Humanities is a growing area of academic research, but there is also a great deal of practice-based work undertaken in the local community by arts and health organisations. With this exhibition we want to show that, far from being an abstract subject, research on the relationship between arts and health has real life impact, and changes people’s lives’.
The exhibition is organised in conjunction with Arts and Health South West, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust and Devon Partnership NHS Trust. It will display a broad selection of artwork and information about ten local organisations involved in providing arts and health related services. This includes Exeter Healthcare Arts, The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust’s own charity which deliver environmental arts within the hospital.
The exhibition has been organised in conjunction with an academic conference entitled ‘From the Cradle to the Grave: Reciprocity & Exchange in the Making of Medicine and the Modern Arts’, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and supported by the Wellcome Trust. In turn, the conference will raise money for local arts and health charity, Paintings in Hospitals. The conference involves early career academics and practice-based researchers working throughout a range of disciplines in organisations and universities across the UK and Europe. Experts from English, Theology, History, Drama and Modern Languages will focus on the way in which medicine and the arts have influenced each other across time and place and explore the ways both fields continue to interconnect.
Arts Health & Well Being in Devon is being held at the Thornlea Building on New North Road from 10am-3pm, Friday 15th April. Admission is free of charge.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Jake Gilmore – + 44 (0) 1793 41 6021, j.gilmore@ahrc.ac.uk
Editors Notes:
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes hundreds of research awards ranging from individual fellowships to major collaborative projects as well as over 1,100 studentship awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust’s breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.
www.wellcome.ac.uk