The CW+ Arts for All programme has partnered with the National Portrait Gallery to create an animation co-designed by paediatric patients at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
From October 2022 to June 2023, a series of animation workshops took place on the children’s wards at the hospital, which aimed to distract, relax and bring happiness to young patients during their hospital stay. The children used collage books, drawings and papers to make a short film inspired by the ornithologist, conservationist and wildlife painter Sir Peter Scott. The sessions were led by Shelly Wain and Marysa Dowling, participatory artists from the National Portrait Gallery.
The project was part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Hospitals Programme, supported by Delancey, which promotes health and wellbeing through creative arts programming. Four other hospital partners also took part, with the various interpretations of the natural world coming together to form the final film, ‘A Helping Hand’.
Trystan Hawkins, Director of Patient Environment at CW+, said: ‘As a hospital partner of the National Portrait Gallery, we were delighted to work with the Gallery to run these animation workshops for our young patients as part of our Arts for All programme. The children at Chelsea and Westminster have thoroughly enjoyed working on the animation, and we are all proud of the result.’
The CW+ Arts for All programme is an ambitious programme that brings a daily dose of music, performance and creative activities into the wards, using art as a tool for healing. Find out more or support the programme here.
