Art Saves Lives

What you could win - note the Picasso in the top left corner.

Fancy picking up a Picasso for a tenner? That’s just £10.00. Or an early photograph of Kate Moss? Or a limited edition from the late Beryl Cook? Or my favourite, Anita Klein? And you’ll be helping a good cause.

Art Saves Lives is a community interest not for profit company, which is trying to provide a platform for artists (visual artists, writers, poets and musicians) who have been marginalised or  socially excluded.

They might have been homeless. They might have done time in the past. They might have had other difficulties. But what’s important is what they’re doing now. Moving on. Making art.

This is what they say about themselves:

Everybody deserves a second chance. We deal with real art by real people for real people. We are driven but we are cool. We are hardened but hey! That’s life. Just let the art, the music, the theatre and the poetry speak for itself. All we ask is for you to let us into your life! We will make it a better place.

So it’s a two way street. They can brighten up and enrich any art lover’s life. They can also help you if you’re an artist yourself. They can get your play performed, your poetry read, your art exhibited and your songs sung.

And you can help them help themselves too. It’s not a passive thing. They’re not sitting around with a hand out. They’re busy. You can keep track of their events here on Facebook or here on Twitter.

So you can pick up a Picasso for a tenner. Or some other exclusive piece of art. And these are guys who have exhibited at various galleries in London, including the ICA and the South Bank Centre. I’ve had a picture myself. (It cost more than a tenner, I’ll tell you that. If only I’d waited till now.)

The instructions how to enter are at the bottom. It’s a raffle for more than 75 pieces of art. Including the Picasso, the Kate Moss, the Beryl Cook, etc. It’s a tenner a ticket. It’s all secure via PayPal.

What are they going to do with the money? They’ve had a stage built by a skills centre for the homeless which was funded by the John Thaw foundation.They plan to tour an award winning play to six homeless centres in and around London. The play deals with homelessness and addiction issues and is specially designed for audience participation. The raffle will pay for it.

Get in touch with Dean Stalham. Yes, he’s a mate. A dynamic ideas man and enabler. An artist too. He’s at dean@artsavelives.co.uk or try Cat at  cat@artsaveslives.co.uk

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