An artist who dedicated her lockdown time to keeping arts alive and accessible has been recognised by the National Lottery
Abbie Canning, 45, who lives with her children Otto, 14 and Anselm, 12, is the Q Club Programme Curator at Derby Quad, having started working there 15 years ago as a freelance artist.
And her commmitment has earned a place in a unique photography exhibition aimed at showcasing communities stars who have shone brightest during the coronavirus pandemic.
The digital exhibition marks the first time in history eight of the UK’s most iconic art galleries have come together online to honour everyday champions of the arts
The collection, titled ‘The National Lottery’s 2020 Portraits of the People’ celebrates the remarkable individuals, including Abbie, who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to bring creativity, enjoyment and enrichment to people in new ways
Thirteen 13 powerful and poignant portraits have been created by photographer Chris Floyd, who normally photographs celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mo Farah and Victoria Beckham.
The exhibition was born out of National Lottery insights which indicate a ‘domestic renaissance’ in people enjoying the arts at home with almost 2 in 3 (61%) of those saying it helped their state of mind during the crisis, and more than half (51%) believing the positive impacts on their wellbeing would be long-lasting.
"Q Club is a group that works with children and young people on the autistic spectrum or with disabilities,” said Abbie.
"We explore digital technologies in a creative art context. It's an exciting project working with young people aged between five and 18, and their siblings and families.
"I really love the arts. I wanted to be involved in participatory arts, as an artist I experienced those positive benefits that art provides and I wanted to involve myself in a charity that helped other people experience those same things.
"That was my initial motivation, seeing all the amazing work that Quad can do, helping marginalised and vulnerable groups and offering them the benefits which art can bring.
During lockdown, Abbie hosted online digital creative sessions and offered free sessions to special educational needs youngsters over the summer holidays to bring them together and remove the isolation and loneliness many face.
"Since coronavirus, it's been a hugely different way of working. Our building closed, we are an audience-centred venue that loves working with participants, so to have that stop overnight was a huge blow to all of us,” added Abbie. "We pride ourselves on trying to be an accessible venue.
"With my project, we were incredibly fortunate to be able to retain many staff, lots of people were furloughed but I was lucky to be kept on during the height of the pandemic.
"It was really important to maintain the structure for the young people who access our sessions.
"We moved everything online straight away to begin working with them on a weekly basis.
"We introduced different methods. We're very aware of some participants experiencing digital deprivation, so we didn't want to move everything online, as that would exclude some people.
"We started to provide both online sessions and sent activities out to people, boxes of materials and different things so that they could keep engaged and feel connected.
"We retained that feeling of connection and provided some stability in this real state of flux.”
National Lottery players raise £30 million a week to good causes around the country, funding thousands of projects like Q Club that make a huge difference to people’s wellbeing.
"The funding has enabled us to provide these opportunities,” said Abbie.
“It's sometimes frustrating, a lot of the evidence we gather is anecdotal but, as practitioners, seeing the impact on people and the work we do is what fires us up.
"I'm not sure people appreciate the trickle-down effect, the individual impact it has on people is huge and without that framework being provided by The National Lottery funding, none of these projects would be able to take place.”
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