Bringing contemporary art to the healthcare setting
Our Artist in Residence programme engages patients and staff in contemporary arts practice and gives professional artists the opportunity to develop their practice in an acute hospital setting. Artists are given a studio space in the Réalta Centre for Arts + Health at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and are supported by Réalta staff to engage patients and/or staff at UHW in participatory or collaborative art-making.
Artists are selected every year through open competition which calls for inspiring proposals which aim to offer innovative opportunities for staff and/or patients to be creative. While the Artist in Residence initiative usually sees an artist collaborating closely with patients on an art project, during the pandemic, due to restricted access, the artist instead worked with staff from different departments in the hospital.
The residency is open to artists of all disciplines, it supports artists at all stages in their career, and focuses on the collaborative process rather than the production of a new body of work, while not excluding the possibility of the latter.
The Réalta Artist in Residence programme is funded by the Arts Council.
Current Artist in Residence
In 2026, visual artist Sinéad Reilly will research ways of encouraging participation in the arts. She will explore how accessible, low-pressure encounters with art might create opportunities for connection, particularly for people who may not feel confident participating in arts activities. Through this research, Sinéad hopes to deepen her understanding of how to make arts experiences in healthcare and community settings more welcoming and inclusive.
Speaking about her residency, Sinéad said: “My work in Galway involves facilitating creative workshops and art sessions at the bedside with people recovering from cardiac and stroke-related illness. This is part of a programme called Mending HeArts. Through this work in the acute hospital setting, I have become increasingly interested in what enables people to enter into an arts experience. I’ve witnessed patients who initially felt that art is “not for them” become engaged through making, conversation, observation and simple creative invitations. These experiences have informed my interest in developing a deeper understanding of how people can be supported to participate in creative activities, regardless of their previous experience or confidence in engaging with art.”
Previous Artists in Residence
To date, our Artists in Residence have included Siobhan Clancy, Catarina Araujo, Joe Brennan, Catherine Sweeney, Edward Denniston & Eric Sweeney, Ciara Harrison, Caroline Schofield, Lucy Hill, Patricia Crossey, Cormac Leane, Bernie Laherty, Gemma Hodge, Valerie Stone, Grace O’Meara, Mary Beth Meehan, Mark Roper, Brigid Teehan, Libby Seward, Caroline O’Sullivan, Maria Casey, Kevin O’Shanahan, Laura Fitzgerald, Emily Robyn Archer, Maria McKinney, Martin Fahy, Jeffrey Gormly, John Conway, Marie-Jeanne Jacob and Aifric Gray, who was our first Artist in Residence, in 1994.
Click links on the names above to read each artist’s report on their residency.
Hospital Voices – 25th Anniversary Project
In 2018, for the first time, Waterford Healing Arts Trust (now Réalta) brought together two art forms under the Artist in Residence programme, with Composer Eric Sweeney and Poet Edward Denniston collaborating with patients in the creation of a new choral work Hospital Voices This was performed by Madrigallery Chamber Choir, under the direction of Dr Kevin O’Carroll, at the UHW Chapel on Thursday 6 December 2018 to celebrate Waterford Healing Arts Trust’s 25th Anniversary.