Devoted Derbyshire gallery curator praised for 'keeping the arts alive' during pandemic

Abbie Canning, 45, is the Q Club programme curator at Derby Quad, having started working there 15 years ago as a freelance artist.

The digital exhibition, titled ‘The National Lottery’s 2020 Portraits of the People’, celebrates the remarkable individuals who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to bring creativity, enjoyment and enrichment to people in new ways.

A total of 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 two in three (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.

During lockdown, Abbie hosted online digital creative sessions and offered free sessions to special educational needs youngsters over the summer holidays.

Abbie said: "Since coronavirus, it's been a hugely different way of working.

" 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.”

The digital exhibition, in which Abbie’s portrait features, can be visited on The National Portrait Gallery website.