The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health

“One woman who wants to see art commissioning in health care go a whole lot further is Catsou Roberts, Director of Vital Arts, a pioneering arts organisation for Barts Health National Health Service Trust, London, UK. She rightly points out that hospitals are “key civic spaces that form a crossroad of human activity. From traumatic incident to incidental prescription collection, these large municipal buildings serve a vast, diverse public who, in their thousands, pass through daily—whether arriving on foot, wheelchair, or stretcher”. As Roberts tells The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, the aim of Vital Arts is to offer a “cultural encounter”. “We are committed to real curatorial practice and scholarly research, instead of rolling out off-the-shelf, already-discovered art solutions. Just because it’s a hospital doesn’t mean the art should be insipid or unambitious.”