The Arts at Yale Health
The Arts at Yale Health endeavors to create an environment that is visually and intellectually stimulating and promotes the health and wellness goals Yale has for the community we serve. It recognizes the value of art in creating vibrant, inclusive spaces, and through this initiative, seeks to perpetually enhance the experience its members have when seeking care. With this program, Yale Health also strives to create new and sustaining ties to artists with any of a variety of Yale affiliations, whether as students, faculty, staff, or others, to promote the talent and generosity within this rich community. Read more about the history of this program and the details of our most recent installation here.
For purchase inquiries please contact Meredith Miller.
🎉 New this year! We’re excited to introduce a theme for this year’s show that reflects our commitment to continuous growth at Yale Health: "Grow With Us."
The Arts at Yale Health Dedicated to Memory of Colleague
The Heather Smith Memorial Arts at Yale Health is dedicated to the memory of Heather Smith, a colleague, and friend who passed away from cancer. She was Yale Health’s communications officer for 15 years.
Smith, who ran her own professional photography business along with her Yale responsibilities, was instrumental in getting the arts program up and running along with Meredith Miller, a senior photographer at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and a 2003 graduate from the Yale University School of Art. The first pieces of artwork created by members of the Yale community went on display throughout the Yale Health Center in February 2019.
“If you look at every part of what we’ve done with the arts program, Heather has been at the center of it,” said Peter Steere, RPh, MBA, Yale Health’s chief operating officer. “She helped determine where we hung the art, she did the website materials, and she was important in the jury process as to what was accepted because she really has a fine eye. She appreciated art of all kinds and really had a vision for this. She helped take it from an idea to a program.”
Steere also praised Smith for her leadership in Yale Health’s communications to the Yale community during her 15-year career, which included the move from 17 Hillhouse Avenue to the Yale Health Center in 2010 and messaging around the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few years.
“Heather, nearly single-handedly, shaped how people saw our organization and how they learned about us, who we are, and what we do,” Steere said. “Her guidance around how best to reach our community, to describe the quality of our care, was routinely outstanding.”