Brighton Dome and Chestnut Tree House launch Big Heart charity auction

Brighton Dome are thrilled to announce, in collaboration with Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice, the very first Big Heart charity art auction.

The two organizations will join forces to host the auction next March, presenting over 200 donated artworks from local, national and celebrity artists, illustrators and photographers.

Each piece will be available for purchase, with all proceeds going towards supporting both Chestnut Tree House – which cares for over 300 terminally ill children in Sussex and South East Hampshire - and Brighton Dome; itself a registered charity committed to providing a groundbreaking arts programme that touches and enriches thousands of lives.

This will feature artworks from Raymond Briggs – illustrator of the much-loved The Snowman and Patron of Chestnut Tree House – as well as Dan Baldwin, Jake Wood-Evans, Dion Salvador Lloyd, Pippa Blake, Gary Goodman, Natalie Papmichael and Phillipa Cannan. Additionally, over the next few months, artists and celebrities performing at Brighton Dome will also be given a special artists’ pack, kindly devised and donated by Lawrence Art Supplies based in Hove, and asked to create their very own masterpiece for inclusion in the Big Heart auction.

An online gallery - showcasing all participating Big Heart artists and artworks - will be available to view from January 2015. The auction will then go live on eBay for Charity from Thursday 26 February to Sunday 8 March. Alongside the online gallery, Brighton Dome will play host to a public Big Heart exhibition from Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 March. The exhibition is free to enter and will be an opportunity to see first hand artworks from a wide range of artists.

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Chestnut Tree House on the inaugural Big Heart charity auction. The project not only enables us to build on our partnership work with Chestnut Tree House through the Umbrella Club; Brighton Dome’s membership club for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their siblings and carers, but also to showcase and support the work of the local artistic community who have generously donated to the auction.’

June Frickleton, Big Heart curator and art expert said ‘The artist community in Sussex have been amazing. We’ll have a wide range of high quality artwork available and hope to appeal to all tastes. In addition to our fabulous local artists we hope to have a few artworks from celebrities and big names from the art world. We know artists are a very generous bunch and we have been just delighted by the support we have been offered. It’s going to be a really unique auction for a very worthy local cause.’

The partnership builds on the collaborative work already begun between the organisations through the Umbrella Club, Brighton Dome’s membership club for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their siblings and carers.

Liz Ganney, Head of Fundraising Development at Chestnut Tree House, said ‘We are very excited about our first Big Heart auction. This is a great opportunity to snap up a unique piece of art whilst helping to raise vital funds so Chestnut Tree House can care for local life-limited children and their families across Sussex.’

For more information, visit the Big Heart website here and follow the auction on Twitter with @BigHeartAuction