RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition, has announced a new award to recognise the connection between art and healing.

The RCSI Art Award has been established to celebrate the common heritage of RCSI and the RHA and the long-standing association between art, medicine and wellbeing.

Both RCSI (1784) and the RHA (1823) have Georgian origins and are 32-county bodies with educational roles. RCSI was occupied, while the RHA was destroyed in the Easter Rising of 1916 and the RCSI Art Award has been established to coincide with the centenary of these historic events. 

Professor Cathal Kelly, Chief Executive/Registrar, RCSI said: "Art and medicine have long been intertwined. Our efforts to preserve and extend health, and the suffering associated with its absence, has been captured in a variety of artistic genres over centuries, while imaging the human body has been at the centre of scientific investigation. We are delighted to partner with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition to recognise an inspiring piece of artwork that proves thought-provoking about health, medicine and the human form or evokes a sense of wellbeing for those who observe it."

All works of art selected for the RHA Annual Exhibition in any medium will be considered for the RCSI Art Award. The shortlisted artworks, selected by the RCSI Art Award Committee, will be announced prior to the opening of the exhibition on Varnishing Day, Sunday 20th March, and the winner will be announced in mid-May before the 2016 exhibition closes. The recipient will be awarded €5,000 and the RCSI silver medal. The successful artist will also receive a comission to the value of €10,000 for a new work for the RCSI collection. The prize will run for a period of five years from 2016-2020.

The RCSI Art Award Committee includes Mr Declan J. Magee, President, RCSI (Chair); Mick O'Dea, President, RHA; Laurence Mackin, Arts Editor, Irish Times; Patrick T. Murphy, Director, RHA; Professor Clive Lee, Professor of Anatomy, RCSI & RHA; Dr Abdul Bulbulia, Alumnus, RCSI; and Louise Loughran, Director of Communications, RCSI.

The 186th RHA Annual Exhibition will open to the public from 22nd March until 11th June. Approximately 3000 submissions are made to the exhibition annually, from which 250-300 are selected for exhibit alongside a further 250+ artworks from Members of the Academy and invited artists. 

The original purpose-built Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) building situated on Lower Abbey Street, lost its contents and its entire annual exhibition was destroyed by fire during the Easter Rising in 1916. To commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising, this year's RHA Annual Exhibition, usually held in May, will return to its original earlier time of the year to coincide with the centenary.

RCSI also played a unique historical role in the events of the 1916 Easter Rising. On Easter Monday, 1916, RCSI was occupied by insurgents under the command of Michael Mallin. At the same time, surgeons associated with RCSI in surrounding hospitals worked tirelessly through Easter Week, treating the injured, regardless of which side they had fought on during the rebellion. In 2016, 100 years on from these historical events, the College will remember this unique period in its history, with a series of special commemorative events.