The beating heart of the hospital is its people, from the nurse and the doctor to the receptionist and the porter, with the patient at the centre. Yet, too often, our social values and connections are easily cast aside, deprioritised and buried under the ubiquity of machines, data-driven demands, bureaucratic processes, and technical jargon.
In this three-part webinar series, titled ‘The social hospital: how art creates connections, enhances diversity, and strengthens communities’, three expert panels from across the interdisciplinary fields of medicine, architecture, art, design, and research discussed the ‘social hospital’ – what it is, why it matters, and how creativity and innovation can shape a new and more inclusive and diverse healthcare environment.
Organised by European Healthcare Design in collaboration with Art in Site and broadcast live on SALUS TV, each 90-minute episode focused on a different impact of the social hospital, featuring international case studies showcasing how art in combination with technology can connect patients, staff and the wider community, enabling stories to be shared and tales to be told that build empathy and connection to improve healing, recovery and wellbeing.
Image credit: Together We Can Do So Much - Mark Titchner, 2019
Artwork commissioned by GOSH Arts for the Zayed Centre for
Research in to Rare Disease in Children at Great Ormond Street Hospital
Our panels described and discussed interactive installations that bring people together in the social hospital – to play, connect, and share meaningful moments together. And they explored creative solutions to breaking down silos within the hospital, demonstrating how art can create a bridge beyond the walls of the hospital to create health in the wider community.
Healthcare has much to learn, too, from radical art and design in parallel sectors, such as education, civic space and transport, so our panels also drew inspiration from how other sectors are using art to create health and social value.
Webinar 1
The social hospital: Celebrating identity, expression 
and diversity
18 April | 17.00 – 18.30 (BST)
How healthcare portraiture and self-expression can drive new conversations, attitudes,
and self-perception about the role of medicine – its ideals, its history, its responsibilities, and its future.
Chair: John Zeisel, Founder, I’m Still Here Foundation; Hearthstone Institute, USA
Panel: Ejatu Shaw, Photographer, UK
Rolake Ojo MD, Doctor and graphic designer, UK
Emily Thomas, Arts Co-ordinator, CW+ (official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust), UK
Louisa Williams, Director, Art in Site, UK
Image credit: Emily Thomas, CW+
Webinar 2
The social hospital: Creating a culture of care
19 April | 17.00 – 18.30 (BST)
Using impactful, immersive visual art and music to broadcast an aspirational culture of care – one that’s less clinical, kinder, inspirational, and playful.
Chair: Femke Feenstra, Director, architect and interior designer, Gortemaker Algra Feenstra architects, Netherlands
Panel: Mark Titchner, Artist, UK
Laura Waters, Co-chair, National Performance Advisory Group for Arts, Heritage and Design in Hospitals, UK
Lindsey Evenson, Senior Associate, Perkins&Will, USA
Martin Jones, Director, Art in Site, UK
Webinar 3
The social hospital: Anchoring healthy communities
20 April | 17.00 – 18.30 (BST)
Using multi-spatial art and activity to make social connections, build bridges, and combat the isolating effect of siloed communities.
Chair: Stephanie Williamson, Co-chair, Architects for Health, UK
Panel: Anna Wolf, Director, London Arts and Health, UK
Tom Littlewood, Director, Ginkgo Projects, UK
Kirstine Roepstorff, Visual artist, Denmark
Peter Shenai, Creative strategist, Art in Site, UK
Image credit: Ginkgo Projects
