Project Art Works have created a programme of innovative collaborations that promote deep and authentic relationships between arts organisations, social care professionals and people who have intellectual impairment.
Since 2010 we have worked in partnership with regional and national arts organisations delivering awareness raising and mentoring, and creating exhibitions, to diversify and increase the relevance and reach of cultural programming. These collaborations have promoted new practical and philosophical approaches to the meaningful involvement of people who have complex needs in visual art activity that finds its way into mainstream programming and is of exceptional quality in its concept, aesthetic and production. As part of each collaboration we facilitate creative encounters between staff teams of galleries and people who have complex needs, social care workers, families and circles of support.
Project Art Works has successfully delivered multiple collaborations of varying scales that include:
- MK Gallery, Milton Keynes (culminating in the exhibition, States and Spaces)
- Camden Art Centre, London
- Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), Liverpool
- De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (culminating in the exhibition, In the Realm of Others)
- Fabrica, Brighton
Our investment in Project Art Works is an important way in which we are working to fulfil our ambition of great art and culture for everyone. Art is an incredibly powerful form of expression for everyone, but perhaps even more so for those who find communicating more challenging. We are proud to support the creativity of those makers who work with Project Art Works, not just in giving them the freedom to express themselves and to create exciting works of art, but also the opportunity to share those pieces of work through exhibitions such as In the Realm of Others at De La Warr Pavilion.
Hedley Swain, Area Director for South East with Arts Council England
