Commission Fees in Healthcare

CODAworx maintains a database of published projects, including many specific to commissioned works in healthcare settings. A review of entries within the last 36 months provides artists, commissioners, developers and architects with insight into the total, as well as the highest and median commission value of art installations occurring in these settings.

While commission values are important, a review of select entries in the CODAworx database demonstrates how aesthetically pleasing healthcare public spaces, surgical waiting areas, chemotherapy treatment suites and patient rooms offer refuge and serenity during the stressful experience of a hospitalization or visit to an ill loved-one. 

Art that Heals and Satisfies

Today, healthcare interior design is increasingly guided by evidence-based concepts that create a healing environment where art, patterns of movement, exposure to natural light, colors, textures, electronic media, and more, all contribute to a sense of place that fosters confidence, comfort and healing. 

In fact, the role of art in healing environments has been shown to positively impact

clinical outcomes such as length of hospital stay, intake of pain medication, depression associated with chemotherapy, dialysis, and other invasive treatments; mental healthcare treatment times; operative recovery times; and biological markers like blood pressure and heart rate. 

Furthermore, patient-, family-, and employee-based outcomes such as patients’ rated levels of perceived pain, patient and employee satisfaction with healthcare services, and working conditions, including employee turnover and missed days, are favorably impacted.

Stated with clarity and authority by Lehman in the article Art in Healthcare, the author describes the long lasting impact works of art can have when successfully designed and installed in healthcare facilities. He writes, “Another measure of the effectiveness of a particular selection of art is its ability to maintain interest; it is art that doesn’t run out, doesn’t become invisible and irrelevant. Art, when appropriately selected and placed, has durability. It engages the viewers, transports them, delights and amuses them, calms and reassures them, day after day.”

Individual works of art are described below in the context of highest and median commission values, as well as their ability to offer respite and rejuvenation by engaging and occupying the attention of healthcare patients, visitors and employees. 

Commission Value — Healthcare

Commission profiles are described below according to total, highest and median values for this category (330 entries with commissions totaling $30,917,604). The reader will find links to projects with the highest commission and median commission. Those projects are described in relation to the principles put forth by Lehman such as durability, use of natural elements, engagement and contribution to the healing environment. 

Also provided is an overview of commissions regarding the most commonly occurring art installations within Healthcare — sculpture and wall art.

The Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford (Palo Alto, CA) is host to an expansive collection of 500+ artworks encompassed by a seven-year project. The overall commission fee was $3.2 million and is the highest in the healthcare database. 

The art program includes a 3.5 acres of outdoor space (the Dunlevie Garden) featuring interactive habitat sculptures such as a tree house, and the Emerald Garden featuring Rocky Shore themed mosaic play sculptures. Thematically based on the California ecosystems, iconic animal sculptures welcome visitors at the main entrance, and landmark sculptures are placed at main intersections to assist in wayfinding while also providing distraction. 

Project goals were to provide experiences that inspire, delight, distract and provide relief from pain and anxiety for a diverse population of children spanning a variety of ages, ethnicities, education and social backgrounds. Much of the artwork was developed to support the regional cultural and environmental context and is tailored to its diverse patient population. The arts program is designed to assist and empower patients of all ages, as well as children and their families, in their healing process.

Wind and Wings is a kinetic art installation at Dayton Children's Hospital (Springboro, OH). Representative of the median commission fee  at $140,000, the work incorporates dichro laminate forms, suspended from stainless steel aircraft cable, across 570 lineal feet. Wind and Wings begins in the Specialty Services Building, continues through a connecting corridor, and terminates within the Emergency Department. The continuously changing illumination and color patterns are reminiscent of the ever changing sky. The dynamic, graceful movement of the sculpture through the space symbolizes the flow of caring and creative energy throughout the Hospital.

Wind and Wings creates a joyful and playful environment. The dichro laminate material and forms play with the light, changing colors and casting them on the ceiling and walls as viewers pass below. According to the artists, the whimsical forms and brilliant colors find success in elevating the spirits of patients, caregivers and hospital staff. 

Commission Value — Sculpture

The largest commission ($2,591,334) in the Sculpture category occurred with the work Search. Located in Omaha, NE, this abstract installation is an 82 feet tall tower made with hand cut hand blown antique glass, safety glass, LEDs, steel, granite and brick. Illuminated by natural daylight and backlit by LEDs, it endeavors to bring positive energy, inspiration and hope to all people who come to the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. The work is intended to enlighten the experience of professionals, patients and loved ones and to carry their thoughts up towards the future and hope.

Suzanna, First Meeting is a figurative sculpture located at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, OH. With a commission value of $165,000, the work is representative of the median value for sculptural artwork within Healthcare settings. The piece resides outside the new maternity center and was designed in a manner that offers appropriate scale and harmony with the main building and awning. Suzanna, First Meeting gives hope to the hospital’s patients.

Commission Value — Wall Art

The largest commission value for Wall Art within Healthcare ($916,984) occurred at The University of Texas at Austin. O N E E V E R Y O N E, located at the UT’s Dell Medical School, features photographs of more than 500 individuals behind a semi-transparent membrane at twelve Austin locations. The public art project includes: 70 permanent, architectural portrait panels on display throughout the medical school; an image library; 10,000 copies of a 900-page artist book; a newspaper with scholarly texts; and a website where participants can download free portraits. The subjects speak to the school’s origins as a county-wide initiative, its ongoing ethos of inclusivity, and its goal of improving health in the whole community.

With a commission value of $58,000, Prairie Vistas at Mount Carmel Hospital (Grove City, OH) is representative of the median value for wall art projects. Comprising four segments each over six feet wide, this wall piece depicts a quiet expanse of horizon in the pastoral Ohio countryside. Hundreds of medallions (each forged and painted by hand), link together to create a gentle, rolling backdrop for a bustling hospital corridor.

The artwork expresses the religious foundation of the Trinity Health System, a national system of Catholic hospitals. The engraved icons exemplify the parables; simple stories used to illustrate moral or spiritual lessons. As noted by the artists, “Art in the healing environment provides a special purposefulness. It beautifies spaces, inspires calmness, and aims to kindle meaningful reflections within its viewers, but it also creates memorable moments that serve as way-finding guideposts within large or complex spaces.”

Publish Your Projects

CODAworx is a leading authority on commissioned art and maintains a comprehensive database of information regarding RFPs, commissioning entities, budgets, and awards. Tapping into this database enables CODAweekly to feature regular Industry Reports by design segment (commercial, hospitality, healthcare, etc.) that highlights top artists, trends in commission fees, and more.

We encourage you to add information to the CODAworx database by publishing a project to our Project Library or populate data on projects already in the database. Anyone involved in the collaborative process can publish a project on CODAworx. This includes the artist and creative teams, design professionals and other commissioners, and industry resources such as fabricators, engineers, installers, lighting designers, videographers, and more. Potential clients, commissioners, collaborators and your peers will get to know you and your work. They can contact you directly through the CODAworx messaging system.

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