Welcome to the CW+ Arts Blog

As pioneers and innovators in the Arts in Health field we wanted to share an insight into some of the exciting aspects of our arts programme at CW+. This blog will cover all things arts, including Q&As with artists and practitioners, news on the arts industry and a behind-the-scenes preview into our arts projects.

Firstly, a little background: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital introduced art as part of a broader, innovative architectural approach when the hospital was built in 1993. Since then, the arts have been an integral part of the patient environment and experience.

Our arts programme is now over 25 years old and has expanded across Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, West Middlesex University Hospital and a range of community-based services, including award winning sexual health and HIV clinics across London. Our collection includes over 2,000 artworks, which aim to transform the often-clinical hospital setting. We offer regular participatory art workshops, which cover singing, arts and crafts, live music and dance across both our younger and older patient wards. We also host a lunchtime performance every Thursday at Chelsea and Westminster, with a large variety of acts performing for the public before visiting the wards to entertain patients. These interventions are designed to alleviate anxiety, and stress whilst promoting healing and improving the physical and mental health of our patients, their families and staff.

Looking to the future, we want to keep expanding our arts programme by introducing exciting new technologies such as Virtual Reality and robotic companions into the hospital environment, as well as continuing our focus on mental health and wellbeing both in our hospitals and the wider community.

We want this blog to be a space where we can share what we, and the artists we work with, are up to and give you a better insight into the work we do to bring the arts into our hospitals. If you’d like to hear about a particular topic, why not get in touch on arts@cwplus.org.uk.

A robot dog is held by a demonstrator whilst a visitor talks passionately