Working with artists for creative engagement.
It’s really important that our engagement activities are fun, creative and thoughtful, which is why we bring in artists to help us! Working alongside the vibrant team at CUH Arts, these regional and nationally-based artists have been instrumental in bringing people’s ideas, thoughts and enthusiasm to life, whether we are working virtually or in real life!
If you are an artist who might like to be involved in the Cambridge Children’s Hospital project, please contact Ellen at CUH Arts ellen.nowak@nhs.net
Josh Bilton
We have harnessed Josh Bilton’s creativity to bring together hugely successful art engagement activities for our first large-scale face-to-face events. For both the Festival of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire County Day, both held at Newmarket Racecourse, we used Polaroid photography and fabric painting to encourage visitors to think about what they need to feel well. The results were meaningful – and exciting to look at!
Jacqui Campbell
Jacqui has facilitated several workshops for us, using her creative and interactive activities to gently draw out memories and ideas. She designed art boxes for our Hospital School workshops, which were posted out to attendees – a wonderful gift through the post – which they brought along to the sessions. This summer, working on an idea put forward by one of our parent Co-production Champions, Jacqui produced wonderful art activities for children under seven to do at home, encouraging them to think about their hospital school.
Merlin Evans
Merlin illustrated this year’s design workshops, capturing the conversations through her stunning scribes. We used her drawings to encourage wider engagement from Cambridge Children’s Network and the public, encouraging others to think about what else they would add.
Chris Glynn
Chris illustrated the conversations at our Design Workshops last year. His beautifully imagined interpretations of the themes and ideas that arose were very well received by the project team and wider public. Chris also did a series of ‘live scribes’ during our ‘Food, with care’ conference in January 2022.
Rachel Walker Mason
Rachel ran a series of online workshops that explored ideas for the new hospital through song writing. These workshops attracted children and young people who we hadn’t worked with before and it was great to hear their thoughts expressed musically!
Harold Offeh
Local artist Harold developed super-creative online workshops to kickstart our plans for a Cambridge Children’s art strategy. The sessions were enjoyed by all ages, from young children to parents and carers, as well as staff. Next, Harold delivered an online creative activity to help people understand our approach at a Cambridge Festival webinar. He then worked with printmaking company Dizzy Ink (opens in a new tab) to deliver in-person art sessions at Cambridge Junction – these were attended by dozens of families through the day, who collaborated to make these fabulous risograph prints.