New Projects
Hospital Rooms launches a three-year project (2025–2028) across NHS Mental Health Services. We will collaborate with NHS Trusts and cultural partners to bring high-quality creative experiences to those most impacted by the Mental Health Act.
We are thrilled to announce that Hospital Rooms is launching an ambitious three-year project (2025–2028) across NHS Mental Health Services.
This pioneering initiative will transform hospital spaces nationwide, ensuring that the communities most impacted by the Mental Health Act—young people, adults in the criminal justice system, Black communities, and people with learning disabilities and autistic people—have fair and meaningful access to high-quality cultural and creative experiences.
Working in partnership with NHS Trusts in Birmingham, Bristol, North East London, and South West Yorkshire, we will:
- Commission 52 site-specific artworks for hospitals
- Deliver over 150 artist-led workshops with patients and NHS staff
- Foster major cultural partnerships with leading organisations, including Arnolfini, Art in Motion, ActionSpace, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham City University, Ikon Gallery, Intoart, Midlands Art Centre, Spike Island, Tate, The Hepworth Wakefield, University of the West of England Bristol, Whitechapel Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), and the Hospital Rooms Gallery Circle
As part of this project, we will also develop and publish the first-ever National Framework for Equal Access to Arts in Mental Health Services, bringing together eight years of rigorous, evidence-based research.
This framework will:
- Provide a scalable model for integrating arts programmes in mental health hospitals across the UK and beyond
- Develop creative programmes that are trauma-informed, autism-friendly, and culturally competent
- Ensure NHS hospitals become spaces where patients can meaningfully engage with contemporary art as part of their care and recovery
- Embed reciprocal exchanges between museums and mental health hospitals
The project is supported by Arts Council England, Winsor & Newton, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Hiscox Foundation.
This is a major milestone for Hospital Rooms, and we look forward to sharing more as we bring this vision to life.
Participating NHS Trusts and Partner Organisations:
The Hospital Rooms National Mental Health Framework is in partnership with:
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (Bristol): People with learning disabilities and autistic people
- Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust: Young people
- North East London Foundation Trust (Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest): Black communities
- South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (Barnsley and Wakefield): Adults in locked and secure services
The project is supported by Arts Council England, Winsor & Newton, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Hiscox Foundation.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Hospital Rooms on this pioneering initiative, which will bring world-class art and creative experiences into our mental health services. This project will have a profound impact on the well-being and recovery of the communities we serve”.
We’re delighted to be partnering with Hospital Rooms on this exciting project to create a series of artworks for our new specialist facility, The Kingfisher. We’ve seen through the engagement that local service users have had with the workshops Hospital Rooms have run, just how valuable art is to people, and the difference it makes to their wellbeing. This is a really brilliant opportunity for people with learning disabilities and autistic people to work with world renowned artists, to deliver something truly special.
For too long, locked and secure mental health hospitals have been stark, isolating environments. This is a defining moment for Hospital Rooms. This project marks a critical shift—from one-off interventions towards a national, systemic approach that will fundamentally change mental healthcare. This is about more than decoration—it’s about equity, dignity, and transformation.
We’re so thrilled to have the opportunity for our clinic to be transformed in this way. The Hospital Rooms team has really taken the time to understand our current stark and clinical environment and how it can be improved to not only benefit the wellbeing of our young people, but our staff too.
“They also understand how important it is for our young people to be centrally involved in the process, so that the environment reflects their opinions, tastes, thoughts and feelings. This project will be so much more to us than just something to look at. We look forward to working with the artists to engage our young people, so the artwork can become part of the therapeutic experience we offer for them.
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