AOI are pleased to hear that arts charity Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has been awarded a £3.75 million grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore their New River Head buildings.
The heritage site in Clerkenwell, London will be opened up as a permanent public space, offering new galleries, learning areas and gardens. The grant brings the total funding secured to acquire and develop the site to £11.5 million, with work due to begin autumn 2024.
Quentin Blake, founder of Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in 2002, said:
“New River Head will be the most extraordinary home for the art of illustration; the building could not be more appropriate if we’d designed it specially, and it’s setting is especially charming and sympathetic. One day it will show some of my archive of several thousand original drawings but, much more importantly, it will be an international centre for the display, discussion and celebration of the extraordinary wealth of illustration. We’re thrilled and thankful to have The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support behind us.”
Made possible by National Lottery players, philanthropists, charitable foundations and local partners, the project will create four galleries, a project base, a learning studio, gardens and play space, a café and a shop. It realises Quentin Blake’s long-held vision for a permanent national centre for illustration: exploring the heritage of art that is used every day, all over the world, to tell stories, capture discoveries, inform and persuade.
The project will also secure a permanent home for Blake’s archive of over 40,000 works, created over seven decades. The largest and most comprehensive to document the work of a single British illustrator, the archive offers unique insights into 20th and 21st illustration, storytelling and publishing.
AOI Patron, Marion Deuchars, illustrator (Yoga for Stiff Birds, Bob The Artist and The Me Book) and Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration Trustee, said:
“As an illustrator, I’m thrilled to share this news. Illustration often marks many people’s first experience with art, influencing and inspiring from an early age. We’re deeply grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for helping us open the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, a unique venue where history and creativity meet and all can explore and appreciate this art form.”
The Quentin Blake Centre is asking heritage, illustration and Quentin Blake fans to ‘mark their mark’ with a donation. With less than 15% of their campaign target to go they aim to raise £1m by the end of 2024. Find out how you can donate here.