We danced, sang, listened, created and reflected – St George’s Arts Week 2023
30 June 2023
With our richly diverse hospital community comes a varied range of different cultural and creative tastes and interests. St George’s Arts Week 2023 aimed to reflect this by showcasing a wide array of artistic events, encouraging us all to get creative in our own way.
We Danced
What better way to bring everyone together than by combining music, movement, and visual arts in one dance? St George’s Arts Week provided a stage for a new and bespoke performance piece, created by Resident Artist Joshua Bilton and choreographed by Daisy May Kemp, inspired by photographic imagery created by patients over the past year. Presented in the Walk On The Wild Side garden, ‘Gestures of Care’, was a powerful routine performed by three professional dancers, providing meaningful contemplation for both contributors and those who seeing it for the first time.
Bracing the heat in their colourful costumes on the final day, we were delighted to welcome back the St George’s University Bhangra Team for an energetic performance gathering an enthusiastic crowd.
“I had a very stressful morning but it was so relaxing sitting in the sun, watching the wonderful dancers. I feel so much better. Thank you”
We Sang
Our St George’s Staff Choir are a prime example of how stretching the vocal chords in a social setting can positively impact your mood and enhance your sense of belonging.
St George’s Arts Week 2023 was a brilliant platform to demonstrate this. During our Resident Artists Showcase, they took to the stage, sharing an original song they have written to mark 75 years of the NHS ‘Who Cares For The Carers’ alongside classics such as ‘Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves’, with audience participation strongly encouraged!
We Listened
Throughout the week we had also been treated to live performances from our Resident Musician Jelly Cleaver both St George’s and Queen Mary’s Hospitals.
For a more personal and reflective experience, we invited the community to scan QR codes around the sites, linking to ‘Healing Suite’ – five original pieces of music by Jelly, featuring our very own staff choir and harpist, Catrin Meek. The pieces were composed in response to Jelly’s interactions with patients and staff over the past year, with an aim to provoke calm and relaxation.
“Really nice to grab a coffee and a song. Beautiful voice.”
Outside Grosvenor Wing, we invited the talented students from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance to serenade us in the sunshine. On Tuesday we enjoyed original and traditional folk music from Rebecka Edlund and her band and on Wednesday, Becky Handley and peers livened the those gathered outside at lunchtime, performing jazz classics and a few requests from the audience!
“Thank you so much. I struggle with anxiety and this has helped me feel calm <3”
“An unexpected pleasure following my visit to hospital”
We Created
Taking a short break to create something to take away always proves popular in our hospitals, and our drop-in workshops throughout the week were no exception.
On the Tuesday and Wednesday textile artist Nicky Simpson welcomed staff to create their own badge design, ready to pin to their uniform and proclaim their message! Our first participants were keen to get started, patiently waiting for the event to begin with designs ideas pre-made in their hands.
“Such a pleasant and relaxing way to pass time between appointments. Thank you.”
Later in the week, Resident Artist Emily Stapleton-Jefferis used lino printing to demonstrate how she had created the motifs of plants from the St George’s Gardens for her mural, ‘Glade’ displayed on the Ground Floor of Lanesborough Wing.
“In a personally sad time it was certainly a pick me up. Very good.”
To conclude a week of getting crafty, Hannah Coulson led a collage workshop both in Ingredients Restaurant and in the hospital school classroom. Participants created NHS birthday cards by pairing black and white images of historic moments in the history of the NHS with colourful papers, stickers and tape, the perfect combination of old and new to celebrate our upcoming milestone.
We Reflected
Centred around the theme of ‘Share Your Story’, the 2023 Arts Week programme provided many opportunities to pause, reflect and share ideas through conversation and creativity.
On the Tuesday and Friday, award winning design agency Wayward to led consultation workshops, building an understanding of what our staff might like to see in our new artistic commission, to mark the profound impact of COVID19 on our community. The team used map-making to invite staff to share their ideas of where they might like to see the structure on site, and screen-printing using LEGO boards and stencils to illustrate preferred patterns and visuals for the piece. This included welcoming an enthusiastic group of Staff Arts Club members to create their own designs!
“Fantastic workshop, cannot recommend enough! Feeling Energised!”
To inspire this reflection, we had installed two new exhibitions on site, along the Ground Floor corridor of Lanesborough Wing. Just outside the MRI Building, a display of creative ‘outcomes’ by our three Resident Artists. Further down the corridor, 7 prints were displayed, each commissioned as part of a portfolio of work to mark 70 years of the NHS.
As the week came to an end, artist Hannah Coulson also invited staff to share their thoughts and reflections on their experiences and memories of working in healthcare. These stories are to form a collective memory as we mark 75 years of the NHS. Staff were asked ‘Where does love come into your workplace?’ or ‘What was your best day at work’, prompting some powerful and poignant responses, demonstrating what working at St George’s means to them.
“Smiling and laughing with my amazing colleagues every day #workfamily <3”
A fitting way to celebrate the end of a fantastic week.
We would like to thank all our colleagues, artists and partners for their outstanding contributions to the week. And of course, the hospital community for taking part and welcoming creativity into the community with such open arms. We will be back next year!
Arts St George’s is not just for Arts Week. We produce a year-round programme of creative activities for patients, staff and visitors. We could not do this without the support of our funders. To find out more, and consider making a donation, please click here.
We would like to thank Wandsworth Council for their contribution to the Resident Artist Showcase event.
