Art in the Docks x Victoria and Albert Museum
Art in the Docks in partnership with Victoria and Albert Museum and UCL’s MASc Creative Health programme
In a new Creative Health partnership between the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at University College London (UCL), Art in the Docks and the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) East Storehouse, a group of Newham residents were enabled to co-curate a public display and collectively create an original artwork for the V&A East Storehouse. The display will open on18th April 2026, coinciding with the launch of the new V&A East.
““Working with Art in the Docks is super important to me as we are building our network and want to work with the local creative ecosystem. We were particularly keen to hear about Art in the Docks’ Creative Health and Wellbeing activities as we want people to feel empowered by what we offer. We are keen to learn more about ways in which our collection can help people in their everyday lives as well as in their artistic endeavours”.”
Led by socially engaged scholars and academics from UCL’s MASc Creative Health programme, this co-produced project brings together a group of non-professional creative participants in Art in the Docks Creative Health programme, with a unique opportunity to access and engage with the V&A’s collections at V&A East Storehouse. In collaboration with museum staff, participants explored archival objects, developed a shared curatorial theme, and translated their ideas into a curated display and a mosaic artwork inspired by their research and discoveries.
Alongside the creative process, the project has included a research strand documenting participants’ lived experiences, contributing to the growing evidence base around creative health, community participation and the role of culture in improving wellbeing.
The resulting display and mosaic will be unveiled at V&A East Storehouse to coincide with the V&A East’s opening celebrations, highlighting the transformative potential of archive access, collective making and community voice at the heart of a major new cultural landmark.
““This project embodies everything Art in the Docks stands for - creativity, collaboration, and community. For our regular wellbeing participants to have direct access to the V&A’s extraordinary collections, and to shape a display and an artwork that will go on public display at V&A East Storehouse is profoundly empowering.
It shows what becomes possible when world‑class cultural institutions open their doors to local people, recognising the insight, imagination and lived experience they bring. Art in the Docks is proud to champion a model of creative health where everyone has the opportunity to create, contribute, and be seen.””
The research programme has been led by Alessandra Olivi - MASc Arts and Sciences in Creative Health, University College London. The MASc Creative Health Degree programme addresses the growing national and global interest in arts and health, social prescribing and non-clinical health approaches, with a focus on research-led practice and community engagement.
