Waterford Healing Arts

Founded in 1993 by Dr Abdul Bulbulia, Mary Baxter and a committee of Waterford people, the programme runs participatory arts sessions and live music at the bedside in University Hospital Waterford and other healthcare settings — paediatrics, renal dialysis, care of older people, palliative care and the department of psychiatry — and more recently takes art making into people’s own homes. It also runs a changing exhibition programme on the hospital walls, including a Staff Art Wall of work by hospital staff, which patients, staff and visitors all see in passing. It is based at the Centre for Arts and Health at the hospital, the first of its kind in the Republic, and is part of Realta, the national arts and health body.