CAMH launches art competition to enhance therapeutic spaces

"The effects of beautiful objects, of variety of forms, and especially of brilliancy of colours presented to patients are actual means of recovery" -- Florence Nightingale, 1859

TORONTO, June 22, 2016 /CNW/ - The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is calling for artists from across Ontario to submit proposals for the hospital's Therapeutic Art Installation project. CAMH is entering the third phase of its celebrated Queen Street Redevelopment Project and, with evidence demonstrating measurable impact of art on patients' overall well-being, will be commissioning original works of public art to be incorporated into the new hospital facilities.

"We envision art installations woven throughout the property," says Dr. Ivan Silver, Vice President of Education at CAMH. "The therapeutic and positive impact of art on mental health is well established and, with this in mind, CAMH has committed a portion of our redevelopment budget for public art that will benefit our patients, engage the community, and enhance the experience of everyone who comes to CAMH."

CAMH's multi-phased redevelopment of the 27-acre Queen Street West campus in downtown Toronto is a leading example of innovation in healthcare design and community building. The current phase, focused on patients with complex mental illness, includes two new clinical buildings that will house CAMH inpatient, outpatient, research, education and public programs. Art installations will be integrated into the design of the new buildings and surrounding public grounds, contributing to the vibrancy of the Queen West neighbourhood.

"Evidence-based design tells us that artwork in healthcare environments can reduce stress and affect mood," says Alice Liang, Principle with Montgomery Sisam Architects. "Healing environments are created with thoughtful, purposeful planning and design, all oriented around patient recovery."

CAMH's art program is founded on our mission to transform lives. Installations will stimulate the senses and connect with people on many levels – through sight, sound, scent, touch, intellect and emotion, movement, and experience of space. They may be representational and/or interpretive. In different ways, they will appeal to children, youth and adults. They will take many forms and may include:

• work in the material arts of wood, stone, ceramic, glass, textiles and new-generation manufactured materials;
• digital, light, sound and multi-media work;
• painting, print-making, photography and sculpture

Interested artists can learn more about submissions on Akimbo 

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit camh.ca or follow @CAMHnews on Twitter.

SOURCE Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Media Contact: Kate Richards, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), [phone], [email protected]