Alder Hey Charity is very proud to fund the Arts for Health programme at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, bringing inclusive participatory arts projects to babies, children, young people and NHS staff.
Led by Arts Coordinator Vicky Charnock, whose post is also funded by your generous gifts, our programme is held in high regard across the country, and many NHS Trusts come to us for inspiration, advice and guidance to take back to their own hospitals and healthcare settings.
Our Trusts and Foundations Fundraising Team write detailed applications to charitable organisations, pitching our case for supporting these inspiring projects. Successful applications result in us receiving grants of different sizes that allow us to plan the long-term delivery of this programme.
Over the last few years, money raised from applications as well as generous donations from our community of supporters has enabled us to grant nearly £500,000 to our hospital, making these magical projects a reality.
One of the successful applications resulted in a grant from BBC Children in Need for nearly £30,000 over three years, to deliver music sessions to long-term patients in our care.
These sessions, led by professional musicians including Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra cellist, Georgina Aasgaard (pictured), make a huge difference to the patient experience our brave young patients. Patients like Hollie and Evie-Kate who featured in a special film for BBC Breakfast. As well as music sessions, we fund the delivery of dance projects for staff and patients, artist residencies and workshops with professional craftspeople, drawing sessions with our friends at Comics Youth, and special performances that help make hospital life magical for all our young visitors and their families.
Our Arts for Health programme is built on clinical evidence that engaging with creative arts experiences in hospital helps children to build confidence and self-esteem, reduces worry and anxiety and even provides distraction from painful procedures and medical treatment. For many children, it is also their first experience of participatory arts and an inspirational springboard for new hobbies and interests after they have left our care.
Our state-of-the-art healthcare campus is equipped with uniquely designed spaces that allow us to deliver the highest level of care and patient experience – and we couldn’t achieve this without your support. Features like our atrium Performance Space, kitted out with professional sound and lighting, allows us to offer an experience for children that is magically distant from what you may expect from a hospital setting.
Thank you to the trusts, foundations, charitable organisations, corporate partners, and every member of our Alder Hey fundraising family who bring the magic to Alder Hey. You are changing lives and brightening every day.
About the Author
Trusts and Foundations Team
The Trusts and Foundations Team is made up of our remarkable fundraisers who work with trusts and foundations to support the work that Alder Hey does with children and young people.