Family Arts Week 2017

14 Nov 2017, 12:09 p.m.

A child getting creative as part of GOSH arts

Now in its fourth year, Family Arts Week took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) from the 23 – 27 October. During the week families enjoyed pop-up performances and workshops in unexpected places across the hospital, including in the reception, lift lobbies, the Activity Centre, the Lagoon Restaurant and on the wards!

Inspired by the new Premier Inn Clinical Building (PICB) this year’s Family Art Week theme was architecture. Visual artists, dancers, architects, and musicians activated spaces throughout the hospital and encouraged families to think about how we move into and through architectural space.

Lots of exciting things happened each day, but these are some of our Family Arts Week highlights:

Artist Anne Harild worked with families to create an animation inspired by the Premier Inn Clinical Building! You can see the animation here:

Corali Dance Company brought their site specific performance Find Your Way to the corridors of GOSH. The dancers found all sorts of ways of exploring the spaces and even surprised a few visitors and staff members by dancing in the lifts!

Artist Ania Bas worked with families to create an imaginary guide to the new Premier Inn Clinical Building to creatively explore what it might be like and how families might get there when they move. You can see the guide in the reception exhibition space from December 2017 – May 2018.

Thanks to all the GOSH families and staff and the artists and organisations listed below who were involved in making the week so special.

Ania Bas, Anne Harild, Assemble, Boy Blue Entertainment, Corali Dance Company, Gary Day, Institute of Imagination, Mark Levin, Marysa Dowling, Matt Shaw, Matthew Larkinson, Peut-Être Theatre, Serious Jazz and Stella Howard.

Joint GOSH and UCLH service named as a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence for Children

After a detailed review process across the UK, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission has announced that our joint GOSH/UCLH service has been designated as a Centre of Excellence.

New treatment for brain tumour approved after over 20 years of research

The first-ever targeted treatment for brain tumours in children has been approved for NHS patients, following decades of research by a Great Ormond Street consultant.

Kidney swap for GOSH patient who’s spent over 3,600 hours on dialysis

A five-year-old patient, who has spent almost 10% of her childhood on dialysis, has successfully had a transplant thanks to a kidney-swap scheme.

New cheek swab test helping to monitor children with rare heart condition

A cheap and simple test, being developed with funding from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), will allow quick and safe monitoring in children with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies (ACM).