Artworks offered for home loan under new scheme

Kirsty Ballard, the scheme's cultural outreach manager, said loaning out artwork brought joy to people

A scheme has been launched to allow people to borrow artworks and cultural objects from a council's museum collection to display in their homes.

Leicestershire County Council said hundreds of items in its stores would be made available to residents.

The initiative, called Culture to You, is being piloted in the Oadby and Wigston area.

The authority said the move would open up access to "high-quality contemporary" paintings normally kept under lock and key.

The council said the loans could last up to six months.

The move is an extension of an existing programme where schools in the county are able to borrow paintings the council does not have room to display in its museums and galleries.

It also aims to make the collection available to people who have difficulty getting out and about.

Marion Poppleton said her borrowed painting was lovely

Marion Poppleton, 82, is among the first people to borrow a painting under the scheme.

The Little Port, painted in 1950 by Dora Khyatt, now has a temporary pride of place in the living room of her Wigston home.

"People like me have been in the same house for a long time, and everything in the house is very old," she said.

"The pictures I have in the house are all ones we have brought back from holidays or have family memories.

"It's just lovely to have something new to look at, something different, and something that will challenge me for a while."

Leicestershire County Council said it had hundreds of collection items in storage

Kirsty Ballard, the scheme's cultural outreach manager, said: "Most of [the paintings] are 20th Century or 21st Century artworks largely by British artists which were all intended to be shared in non-museum spaces.

"So many studies have shown that actually having access to art and culture improves your well-being, and it just brings joy to people - you can see it in their faces."

Ms Ballard said all the paintings available for loan would be insured.

"We recognise that with a project such as this there may be accidents, and that's okay," she added.

"We have kind of accepted that.

"This collection was always intended to be shared in non-museum spaces and it's much more important to us that we share it than keep it in the stores."

The scheme, funded from a part of a £750,000 Arts Council England grant, also allows for people to arrange for council volunteers to bring objects from the museum collection for activity sessions in their homes.