Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT)

We enable meaningful and relevant working partnerships between the field of Arts and the field of Health whereby the aesthetic qualities of the arts are explored and promoted alongside their therapeutic values within healthcare and community environments.

Front Entrance of Hospital by Sinead Fahey

Oak by Tom Molloy

The Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is one of Ireland’s leading Arts and Health programmes. Based in Waterford Regional Hospital, Ireland, WHAT supports healthcare environments and the wider community by providing multi-disciplinary arts experiences and services.

The work of WHAT is founded upon the basic tenet that the arts make a valuable contribution to the well-being and vitality of our society. Interaction with the arts stimulates an individual’s sense of identity and creativity. Stimulation of the spirit has proven to be a vital aid in recovery of the body.

WHAT brings the arts beyond conventional boundaries and into new areas whereby art and artists can thrive and excel in environments outside of mainstream arts venues and whereby people who might not ordinarily chose to access the arts can do so.

WHAT has developed the first dedicated Centre for Arts and Health in the grounds of Waterford Regional Hospital, which enables it to bridge its work between the acute hospital setting and the wider community.

WHAT aims: -

To facilitate access to and participation in the arts
To create professional development opportunities for artists to produce new work and engage new audiences within healthcare and community contexts
To reduce anxiety and stress for patients, visitors, and staff through integrating art into healthcare environments
To forge closer relationships between hospital professionals and between the hospital and the wider community through the arts.
To take the lead in the field of Arts and Health in the Republic of Ireland through education, research and professional development