The HAS Conference, in Edinburgh on 19th & 20th August and Glasgow on 21st August will feature Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Gregor Smith, as well as leading international arts health figures, including four specially curated panels as part of the Festival of Politics at Scottish Parliament. Sessions will focus on Healing Arts Scotland's key themes of loneliness and isolation, dementia, young peoples' mental health, social prescribing and arts in confined spaces. Each programme will bring together senior policymakers, health practitioners and researchers to discuss the wide-ranging health benefits of the arts on society and its implementation in formal spheres (hospitals) and within communities. By fostering a positive dialogue around the role of the arts in wellbeing, the outcomes of the conference hope to lead to the inclusion and the championing of the arts in NHS Scotland, and other community driven initiatives.

Hosted by Scottish Ballet, Tramway, and the Hidden Gardens this unique gathering will feature a rich tapestry of presentations, talks,  participatory workshops, panel discussion, music, dance, movement, art, and poetry.

From grassroots community groups to international delegates and experts,  Healing Arts Scotland in Glasgow offers a platform to share knowledge, and practice whilst forging meaningful connections and encouraging positive change and social impact.

The National Galleries of Scotland and partner organisations invite you to a day of creative community workshops, talks and tours. Inspired by Healing Arts Scotland themes, these events are designed for lots of different communities to enjoy including - dementia friendly activities, events for the visually impaired community, and workshops for all ages including young people, little ones and carers - even baby bumps! Learn more about various programmes from partner organisations in Edinburgh offering key services such as Rowan Alba's work with homelessness, addiction and mental health, Art in Healthcare's ‘Room for Art’ social prescribing project and Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity's creative clinic in partnership.

As part of Healing Arts Scotland Week, the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) designed and delivered a national Participatory Arts Relay.

The HAS ITAC Relay has been a chance for us to highlight and celebrate the amazing arts and health work already happening in communities across Scotland, as led by participatory artists, and join up the many exciting pockets of work which are ongoing. The event invited groups from around the country to contribute their voice to a collective tapestry of artistic responses which spoke to the key HAS arts and health themes. Stimuli was passed from one group to another, asking each to add to the work of the last, until the final creations can be displayed in key partner’s spaces and presented alongside the opening/closing Healing Arts Scotland Week ceremonies. This is the first time these groups have been connected and collaborating on a national scale and ITAC is proud to have brought them together as part of HAS. It has been a chance for the voices of participatory artists and our participants to be central to the event - connecting our work in a literal and artistic sense.

Healing Arts Scotland will travel up North, where the World Health Organisation’s Arts and Health Lead, Christopher Bailey will share his thoughts, and local cultural partners will come together with individuals from the health sector, the community, and the University of Aberdeen to lead a day of practical and creative workshops and discussions. Seeking to address the impact that the arts can have on Scotland’s health concerns, community-based, and cultural projects led by organisations across Aberdeen will be showcased, highlighting the ways in which this work is contributing to strengthening the relationship between arts and health.
 

Healing Arts Scotland Islands Day will act as a platform to amplify the voices of Scottish Island communities with a particular interest on their experiences surrounding the arts in health and wellbeing. This will include community-based events by NHS Orkney, An Lanntair, Lewis and other organisations.  

Additionally, the Arts, Culture, Health & Wellbeing Scotland Network funded by the Scottish Government will host a morning of online discussions and presentations focusing on the legacy of HAS and the future model of social prescribing in Scotland. 

The stories performed/presented at these events have been drawn from an open call out to the Edinburgh community as well as via specific writing groups for older people that we deliver (Corstorphine Dementia Project, our writing group for older adults) as well from healthcare professionals who used to work and/or were trained in the former Royal Infirmary including the Pelican Nurses. The stories showcase a range of experiences and memories linked to the former hospital - there is a mental health theme running through
many of them. 

Join an outdoor storytelling walk to put stories back where they belong in the landscape, 'restorying' the land and restoring ourselves through connection to places and each other.
Through beautiful woodland and across moor in the Cairngorms National Park near Aviemore, we will purposely slow down to share local folktales, lore of plants, trees and nature, explore ruins, and do some foraging, together with a cup of wild seasonal foraged tea.

The walk also creates space for forgotten or silenced voices and histories which are a part of the land – for example women’s role in shaping the landscape, or how this rural Highland strath is inextricably linked with empire and colonialism. In highlighting injustice within the landscape, stories are a way to help healing in its broadest sense. The walk is suitable for all ages and is approximately 3.5km (2.2 miles) long. The route is fairly flat and includes small, rough footpaths as well as wider trails. It is not suitable for prams or wheelchairs; however the route can be adapted to make it fully accessible, please contact in advance to arrange.

Explored through the dynamic of a mother-daughter relationship, In Two Minds is deeply personal, inventive, funny and life-affirming. From writer Joanne Ryan (Lustrum Award winner) and director Sarah Jane Scaife (Beckett sa Chreig: Laethanta Sona) comes a tale of an adult child and parent sharing the same home. Pom Boyd (The Dry) and Karen McCartney (A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings) perform a delicate piece grappling with mental health, love and humanity. In Two Minds finds insight in the darkness, humour in the pain, and tenderness in difficult family dynamics.

Dive into the rhythmic wonderland and reclaim your truth with Bronwyn Tutty's Connective Mindful Silent Disco! Experience the joy of movement in community led by this fun-loving, down-to-earth & heart-led kiwi and transformational coach. Through a fusion of music, movement, and gentle verbal cues, Bronwyn guides you out of your head and into your body, celebrating the beauty of your being and empowering you to shine brighter, even amidst life's challenges.

Join us for an unforgettable Silent Disco experience promising grounding, upliftment, and sensory expansion. Immerse yourself in a unique blend of choreographed sequences and free-flowing dance, led by Bronwyn's dedicated guidance. Dance barefoot to liberate your spirit, allowing the rhythm to guide you into a state of barefoot bliss.

Weekday Wow Factor's famous dementia-friendly daytime discos are not to be missed! The daytime disco will give everyone a taster of fun, friendship, and fitness, at your own pace to your chosen best dancing tunes.

Weekday Wow Factor will supply the DJ, the music, an expert facilitator and the fun. They guarantee to awaken your inner child at their lively dementia-friendly daytime disco. All that is needed are your dancing feet and requests for your favourite tunes - join in at your own pace, fun and friendship go a long way to brightening everyone’s day. The disco encourages everyone to get up and move – every little boogie helps to stay independent and active. The event will provide relaxed but enthusiastic activity to showcase the daytime discos and demonstrate what everyone can achieve together. 

We will share stories from Runforever’s work at HMPG from both the experiences of running and Feldenkrais. These can hopefully be inspiring stories insisting on a truth that is not reducible to data but a fleshier, more lively truth that in its telling might draw us to care. We believe running and Feldenkrais can be forms of art with the potentiality of healing. These stories will show how these practices can make us imagine a different path towards health by acknowledging that “no one can be healthy alone” and that if “we would be able to care more, we would need less cure”. They will highlight the paradoxes we encounter if we don’t maintain awareness on logics governing programmes of rehabilitation and recovery when driven by their inseparable reductive evaluative procedures incapable of catching the interdependency of life and its existential value. In sharing our stories, we will show how the Runningstories radio show and the Photovoice have been creative ways for setting up a path into an unknown territory where values emerge on the way while we learn together.

Through intuitive arts, guided meditation and nature connection practices, we will journey with the four elements and explore all their gifts. The four elements (Earth, Water, Fire, and Air) can help us to understand ourselves and our connection with nature. They represent different aspects of life and are energy allies that can bring balance into our inner and outer experiences.

When we embody nature, we are free to be who we are and can connect with the deepest and sacred part of ourselves. The workshop wishes to remind us that we are made of nature and can access her power to create at any time. The event intends to facilitate a process of reconnection to a more creative and authentic way of living. 

Join us for a performance from Step Out. Children undergoing physiotherapy at RHCYP discovered a passion for dance and movement through the dance programme they took part in while in hospital. Once children and young people left hospital they faced difficulties accessing dance classes in the community. Recognising this gap and identified need, ECHC partnered with Dance Base to create Step Out. The goal of these classes is to provide space for creative movement and connection in a fun and friendly environment, inspiring confidence, and empowering young people through dance.

After the performance there will be a panel discussion involving young people and artists presenting an insight and posing the question 'How does the integration of art and movement in confined spaces like hospitals foster holistic healing and empowerment for children and young people.

"Smalltown Boy" is an art exhibition and rave to celebrate the song by Bronski Beat on it's 40th anniversary.  The exhibition will launch in Glasgow on 23rd August 2024 at SWG3. The project is a dark yet euphoric tale that delves deep into the experience of LGBTQ+ individuals during a time marked by homophobia and oppressive social norms.

Against the backdrop of Thatcherism and a conservative government, Smalltown Boy chronicles the journey of a queer individual forced to leave their hometown due to prejudice and discrimination. Through a diverse range of artistic mediums including photography, painting, sculpture, and a live rave installation, this exhibition presents a show of freedom and acceptance.Rather than offering a conventional account of queer art, Smalltown Boy adopts a personal and emotive approach. It invites viewers to reflect on the narrative of a smalltown boy navigating the complexities of identity and belonging in a hostile environment. 

Dumfries House is the home of many of the Kings Foundation's flagship education programmes which have evolved. The estate homes a bespoke Health and wellbeing centre where this event will be held. The day will offer you the chance to take part in various workshops such as Drumming circle, Knitting, Singing, Qi Gong and woodwork. Drumming circles have been well established for their health benefits in terms of stress reduction, boosting brain power, elevating mood, improving social bonds and more. No drumming experience necessary.