Our Common Humanity, © Juli Bolaños-Durman

Meet the Team

The Tonic Arts team are an experienced group of arts and health professionals with an extensive knowledge in their specialist areas.

Get in touch with any queries at [email protected]

Susan Grant

Tonic Arts Programme Manager – Enhancements

Susan is an arts producer and visual artist with a particular interest in collaborative and participatory practice, arts and wellbeing and public art in all forms. She has over 20 years of experience of managing arts projects in partnership with Peacock Visual Arts, Grampian Hospital Arts Trust, Triangle Arts Trust, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, the University of Tasmania and the Royal Scottish Academy.

Contact Susan: [email protected]

The thing I love the most about running our wonderfully diverse programme is seeing the way in which the arts – in all its forms – enliven people in healthcare settings. They speak to our sense of humanity, whatever our background or state of health, and remind us that we’re so much more than a patient.

Len McCaffer

Len McCaffer

Tonic Arts Programme Manager – Participation

Len joined the team in autumn 2021 . He has worked as an actor, writer and producer for over 25 years, as well as West Lothian Council Arts Officer with a specific remit of Wellbeing. He has a MA in film production from Edinburgh Napier University and has recently completed a PhD at the University of West of Scotland.

Contact Len: [email protected]

Jane Greenacre

Head of Programmes

Jane joined NHS Lothian Charity in late 2022. Jane has over 20 years’ experience supporting disadvantaged communities and people facing health inequalities, developing and leading projects in both the Third and Statutory Sectors. Prior to joining the Charity, she supported NHS Lothian as Head of Volunteering.

Outside work Jane enjoys cinema, theatre and galleries despite not having a creative bone in her body.

Email: [email protected]

Diane Ellis, Marketing and Communications Manager

Diane Ellis

Communications and Marketing Manager

Diane is passionate about storytelling and how it can inspire and engage. Working across all areas of the Charity, she plays an important role in connecting with our supporters and stakeholders, and showcasing the positive impact of our work on patient and staff experience and outcomes.

Get in touch: [email protected]

It’s incredibly rewarding to see how our work positively impacts people’s lives.”

Hans

Hans K Clausen

Exhibitions Manager

Following careers in social work and healthcare counselling, Hans studied at Leith School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art. Hans has exhibited nationally and internationally, working from his studio at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, and has built a reputation for collaborative and participatory practice through a series of residencies and commissions, frequently within healthcare settings. Alongside his work for Tonic Arts Hans is currently Community Artist at St Columba’s Hospice, commissioned artist with Artlink Central and Teaching Fellow at University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Open Learning.

Contact Hans: [email protected]

It is an absolute privilege to manage and curate the hospitals exhibition programme. To curate artworks traditionally means ‘to take care of them’ as well as considering their presentation, context and connections. I believe wholeheartedly that art can transform our surroundings and lift our spirits. By creatively taking care of our hospitals environments I hope we contribute to the care and well-being of patients and staff, and build healthier, happier hospital communities.

Becky Brazil

Arts & Greenspace Project Manager (Royal Edinburgh Hospital)

Becky Brazil is an award-winning filmmaker. As well as making documentaries for the BBC, she has worked on many arts & community projects. She is committed to her work at the REH and strongly believes that developing a collaborative, participatory and therapeutic environment is vital for improved health & wellbeing.

Contact Becky: [email protected]

Based at Edinburgh’s main mental health site, working with a very talented patient, staff, third sector and volunteer community, I’m passionate about using art, design and green activities to create the best possible hospital environment for getting well.

Arabella Harvey

Arabella Harvey

Capital Enhancement Curator

With an academic background in painting, art history and art theory, Arabella has a special interest in cultural management and arts engagement in rural areas and care settings. Recent curatorial projects include the intriguing “Museum for the North” at Timespan in Helmsdale, Sutherland and the delivery of an holistic arts strategy at the newly-built East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington. Arabella also implemented the arts strategy in the new Haematology Centre at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

Karen Smiling

Karen Duval

Participation Officer

With an educational background from Edinburgh College of Art, Karen brings over 20 years of experience leading arts programmes with not-for-profit organizations and museums in the USA. Her work has focused on supporting adults with disabilities through educational initiatives at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Upon returning to Scotland, Karen joined the Tonic Arts team in summer 2025.

“Participatory arts in the hospital – whether through music, theatre, or visual expression – create powerful moments of human connection. When patients and staff engage, something shifts: feelings of isolation and stress give way to community and joy, and creativity becomes a shared language of care and healing.”

Natasha Russell

Natasha Russell

Art and Design Enhancements Manager

Before coming to Tonic Arts Natasha worked as an artist and illustrator specialising in creating print and murals for public space. She has a particular interest in developing designs through community engagement and participation, and in creating work that enlivens and connects us to our day-to-day environments. Over the years, this has lead her to develop site-specific projects for a broad range of organisations including a number of hospital and community sites over the Lothians and internationally.
She loves collaborating with everyone from community members and researchers to other makers and designers in order to realise creative projects that sensitively and creatively respond to the needs of audiences and place. She brings this enthusiasm and experience to her role within Tonic Arts.

 “I love collaborating with everyone from community members and researchers to other makers and designers in order to realise creative projects that sensitively and creatively respond to the needs of audiences and place. I hope to bring this enthusiasm and experience to my role within Tonic Arts.”