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If you ask anyone in Milton Keynes what they most closely associate Arts for Health Milton Keynes with, most likely they will mention the charity’s partnership with Milton Keynes University Hospital (MKUH) to care for, maintain and develop their wonderful art collection.
The Collection, formed over the last forty years and now comprising over 400 artworks including, paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and photography, is on public display in the hospital’s extensive corridors, waiting areas and wards. It includes work by major artists such as Boyd & Evans, Sonia Lawson, Aubrey Williams and Alun Leach-Jones.
The Collection is curated with careful thought given to the placement of works and how they improve the clinical environment. Additionally, many artworks in The Collection link the hospital to the local community by referencing the birth and development of the New Town (now city) of Milton Keynes, and its residents.
Today, it is announced that Arts for Health Milton Keynes have been supported with a £237,225 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to enable the largest and most comprehensive collection restoration and cultural development programme ever undertaken at the hospital. This is in addition to funding from Milton Keynes City Council as well as Milton Keynes Hospital Charity, who commission the services of Arts for Health Milton Keynes on behalf of the hospital.
As a priority, the funds will be used to identify, repair, and conserve any of the most ‘at-risk’ artworks in the Collection, including some sculptures. On completion of work funded by this award the charity will be better able to tell the story of Milton Keynes University Hospital, its staff, patients and local communities, through The Collection. It will have created new open, accessible and future-proofed digital resources; developed accessible interpretation, and creative programmes for staff, patients and visitors on the hospital site, as well as programmes that reach out to people into communities adjacent to the hospital that are amongst the most deprived in the city.
Speaking of the award, Ben Heyworth, Director of Arts for Health MK said:
“This is excellent news for Milton Keynes and its communities, and we are enormously grateful to the Heritage Fund for their support. It demonstrates the importance of The Collection at MKUH as a heritage and cultural asset for both our local area and the country. We are similarly thankful to Milton Keynes Council and Milton Keynes Hospital Charity for their valued investment in The Collection in recognition of its clinical and cultural importance. The conservation, maintenance, curation, and display of The Collection is our highest priority, being fundamental to our charitable purpose. We also recognise the centrality of The Collection to arts and culture in our city. With exciting times ahead, we look forward to sharing our journey!”
Stuart McLeod, Director of England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“We’re proud to support Arts for Health MK with this important project thanks to National Lottery players. The project highlights the powerful impact that heritage and creativity can have on people’s wellbeing. Not only will it help conserve and restore an outstanding collection, but it will also ensure that more people can access and engage with it—deepening their connection to their local heritage in meaningful and inspiring ways.”
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. This project is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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