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Continuing our cultural heritage

Coram has had a strong association with music and art for more than 250 years, with early supporters including the artist Hogarth and composer Handel. Music and art continue to influence our work today through Coram’s pioneering use of creative therapies and educational art projects.

Involving young people in art

Smother: Artangel
A performance based installation in a derelict house in Kings Cross, Smother was a collaboration between artist Sarah Cole and young parents and their children who attend Coram’s Young Parents project. It ranked number two in Time Out's Best of the Year 2010 Exhibitions. Outcomes were far reaching, with young parents reporting better relationships with their children and greater self esteem. To find out more click here.

Reliquaries with Grayson Perry
Artist and Foundling Fellow Grayson Perry worked with young mums and young people in care, adoption and supported housing from Coram to explore ideas about identity. They created clay reliquaries containing a private modern day token which were then showcased in an exhibition at the Foundling Museum. For more information click here.

Young parent’s mobile artwork
Coram's Young Parents' project created custom baby garments which were brought together in a mobile to create a single piece of art (pictured). They decorated baby clothes and expressed hopes for their children’s futures while reflecting their identity as young parents. The artwork is on display at Coram’s Bloomsbury campus.

Collaborations with the Foundling Museum

Exploring identity
Looked-after children and care leavers worked with artists Matt Larkinson and Emma Middleton to create ceramics, paintings and films to explore ideas around identity and life in care. Showcased in The Foundling Museum as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, these art works will contribute to an archive legacy of life in care past and present. Click here for more details.

Threads of Feeling
The emotive exhibition Threads of Feeling showcased a collection of historical tokens left by mothers with their children when they were admitted to the Foundling Hospital from 1742-1760. These tokens, usually a piece of fabric, together form the largest collection of everyday textiles surviving in Britain from the 18^th Century. User's of Coram services contributed significantly to the exhibition, creating modern versions of art to accompany the historical items. Bengali mothers from the Parents' Centre made remembrance corsages from colorful bengali fabrics, and young people involved in Coram's Young Parents project decorated tokens inspired by personal mementos like broken jewellery, glitter buttons and fabrics.  To learn more click here.

Foundling Voices
Foundling Voices is an oral history project telling the life stories of individuals who grew up in the care of the Foundling Hospital in the first half of the twentieth century. To learn more please click here. 

Improving well-being through art

Paintings in Hospitals
Coram receives artwork from the charity Paintings in Hospitals who use art to create welcoming and uplifting environments that improve health, well-being and the patient experience. 

Find out more...