The Ingram Collection has established strong relationships with a number of specialist organisations working between the cultural, health and social sectors.
Find out about some of the innovative projects we have worked on and the partners with whom we have collaborated to create meaningful and positive outcomes.
The Big Issues project, led by Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, offers artist-led workshops to vulnerable and socially excluded people as part of the Artists’ Village’s Art for All community programme. Participants have the opportunity to work with professional artists and designers to explore the collection and heritage of the Artists’ Village, to learn art and design skills, and to express ideas and issues they care about. Participants are then given the chance to submit their artwork to an annual exhibition.
The Big Issues project delivers the Art for All vision of G F Watts and Mary Watts. They believed in the transformative potential of art and they campaigned to widen access to art for socially excluded individuals and those living in poverty. Furthermore, they cared deeply about a number of social, cultural and environmental issues which are still relevant today. These concerns are reflected in the Wattses’ work, in the philanthropic projects they supported, and in the public art and community art projects they founded. They were involved with the establishment of the Whitechapel and South London Galleries in the poorest parts of London, and Mary gave clay modelling classes to the shoeblacks in the East End. In Compton, G F Watts made his work widely accessible through the building of Watts Gallery with an adjacent hostel for apprentice potters. It offered the young and unemployed the opportunity to acquire skills and paid work. Mary led the creation of Watts Chapel, involving 70 local people to whom she taught craft skills during Thursday night evening classes at their home, Limnerslease.
What they say about us:
“Watts Gallery Trust is so grateful for the generous support that the Ingram Collection has shown to the Big Issues Project. By purchasing works from the annual Big Issues exhibition the Ingram Collection provides participants of the project with invaluable encouragement to continue to express their ideas through art. Individuals who have sold their work can choose to donate part of their sale income back into the Big Issues Project, thereby giving them the power to contribute to their own future learning experiences, and that of other participants of the Big Issues Project”.
The Koestler Trust is the UK’s best-known prison arts charity, working to encourage ex-offenders to change their lives through taking part in the arts, and challenging negative preconceptions of what ex-offenders are capable of. Through Awards and Feedback, Mentoring, Sales, Exhibitions and Events, The Koestler Trust aims to:
- help offenders, secure patients and detainees to lead more positive lives by motivating them to participate and achieve in the arts
- increase public awareness and understanding of arts by offenders, secure patients & detainees.
The Trust works across the UK’s criminal justice and secure systems with many partner organisations including: arts venues, museums and galleries; other organisations encouraging arts and education in secure settings; young offenders teams; probation services; and charities supporting victims of crime.
For the most accomplished offender-artists, perhaps the greatest value in exhibiting and selling their work is that it can challenge social stereotypes about offenders – can demonstrate their humanity, talent and potential. For the art world, perhaps the greatest value of offender art is that it can challenge social stereotypes about art – where art comes from, how its quality can be judged, and how it may relate to some of life’s most profound questions of possibility and truth.
We are working in partnership with The Clink, a charity which aims to reduce re-offending and improve the nature of rehabilitation through a programme which trains prisoners in the skills necessary to forge careers in the hospitality and horticultural industries. Inside Out has supported The Clink’s work by providing artworks (created by people in the criminal justice system) to decorate the restaurants at HMP Styal and HMP High Down, providing an enhanced experience for both visitors and restaurant staff.
What they say about us:
“It’s great to have the opportunity to show art like this in the restaurants. The Clink offers prisoners the chance to change for the better through hospitality training and art in prisons can make a huge difference to an individual’s confidence and self-belief. As a charity we collaborate with other like-minded organisations, social enterprises and charities that are all working towards changing people’s lives for the better.
The Clink allows members of the public to dine in the restaurants which showcases prisoner artwork. Not only does this improve the restaurants ambiance but through the generosity of the Ingram Collection it allows members of the public to view prisoner artwork not usually seen”. Chris Moore, chief executive of The Clink Charity.
We are working in partnership with the charity Paintings in Hospitals, which aims to improve the patient experience in hospitals by providing low cost rentals of art to hospitals and medical settings. This has been shown to help patients, medical professionals and the family and friends of patients to improve their health and well being at what can be a very difficult time. The Ingram Collection has provided paintings with a nautical theme to form the basis of Paintings in Hospitals ‘By the Sea’ exhibition, which displayed our paintings in care homes, and used them to stimulate arts activities designed to engage residents in creative projects.
What they say about us:
“By working with The Ingram Collection on the Beside The Sea project, we have been able to bring some of the best contemporary British Art into care homes in the South East. Along with supporting activities, this exhibition is helping the care home residents we work with to both get creative, and to reminisce about their own experiences of the sea and their local landscapes”. Ben Pearce, Director, Paintings in Hospitals.
Woking Coroner’s Court
As well as being involved in exhibitions in galleries and museums, The Ingram Collection explores how its artworks can be used to enliven non-gallery spaces, including civic buildings such as Woking Coroner’s Court.
What they say about us:
“I cannot stress what a difference the paintings and the sculpture make to the general ambience of the Court. As you appreciate, although we are in the true sense a court of law, we are very different to all the other courts. We have been described as ‘the court of the people’ which is marked by the fact that those who come here are very often at the lowest ebb of their lives. Thus, although we have to retain formality, by having artwork around the building we create a more relaxing atmosphere, which I know makes a very great difference. The works have attracted many comments from those who attend the Court. Thank you”. Richard Travers, HM Senior Coroner for the County of Surrey.