Paintings in Hospitals has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to explore and share our heritage. The 'People, Paintings and Positivity' project has been made possible by the monies raised by National Lottery players. It will focus on Paintings in Hospitals’ pioneering 60-year history and our charity's impact on the nation’s health and wellbeing.

Supported through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the People, Paintings and Positivity project will draw together narratives from Paintings in Hospitals’ extensive archives, from our unique art collection, and from the stories of people involved, both past and present.

The project will culminate in a free public exhibition at the Menier Gallery in London, co-created in collaboration with healthcare staff, which will include a soapbox talk event. The gallery exhibition will later become a touring display that will travel to two UK healthcare sites, enabling people from across the country to discover and discuss the hidden history of our unique organisation and how visual arts have supported the UK’s health and wellbeing over the last six decades.

Founded in 1959, Paintings in Hospitals was an early pioneer of the now flourishing ‘arts in health’ sector and, today, our art loans, artist projects and creative workshops touch the lives of two million patients and carers every year. People, Paintings and Positivity participants and exhibition visitors will gain insight into a hidden history and gain a deeper knowledge of how art can benefit our day-to-day mental and physical health.

Commenting on the award, Ben Pearce, Director of Paintings in Hospitals, said:

“We're delighted that the National Lottery Heritage Fund are supporting our work. We are very excited to begin celebrating 60 years of Paintings in Hospitals. For the past six decades, we have been working across every type of health and social care site - from hospitals to care homes - to transform the UK’s health through museum-quality art. Art is proven to help us stay well and aid our recovery from illness and injury. Now more than ever, it is vital that people are aware of the enormous contribution art has made and will make to public health in these challenging times.”

In our 60th year, can you help Paintings in Hospitals raise £60,000 to bring art, comfort and inspiration into the lives of patients and carers?