Artists in Healthcare 2026 

WE BELIEVE:

Music and the arts transform patient, family and staff experiences in healthcare. They facilitate communication; hope, healing and can inspire compassion and resilience.

OUR VISION:

Artists in Healthcare Manitoba envision a future where music and art are part of one’s natural experience in healthcare.

OUR MISSION:

Our mission is to incorporate musicians and artists into those circumstances that will enrich the patient experience and nurture health and wellness through the arts.

Music and the arts are essential for a healthy life

“I just received a cancer diagnosis but for the twenty minutes sitting here, listening to you play: I forgot …”

 Artists in Healthcare Manitoba (AIHM), was established in 2001. Our vision is to improve the patient, family and staff experience in healthcare and to address the needs of the whole person through meaningful engagement with the arts, in all their forms.

Our live music and Art at the Bedside programs are found in hospitals, Cancercare, hospices and long-term care facilities. Musicians play for over 8,000 patients every month in palliative care, geriatric rehab, dialysis, intensive care, chemotherapy, palliative care, psychiatric health, and in a variety of treatment and acute care wards, facility lobbies and waiting areas. 

Up to fourteen student musicians provide 3,800 hours of additional music to hospitals, long term care and hospices under the Service Canada Student Jobs Program each year.

The organization also provides a songwriting program for youth living at the Manitoba Adolescent Youth Treatment Centre, an Art in Hospital Donation program, and a concert series funded by the Winnipeg Foundation and The Johnston Group which provide approximately 150 live performances yearly in collaboration with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. 

The Music to My Ears program is found in twenty facilities in Winnipeg, Brandon and the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, employing up to 40 musicians yearly.       

For further updates please see our most recent Annual Report!