Lemn, who currently has a mural on display in the Foundling Museum exploring fostering and adoption, pledges:
“Harry Potter was a foster child, Superman was adopted and Cinderella was fostered.
Whereas art heralds the particular talents and insights of the child who is without parents Coram takes care of her (or him).
This is why I support them.”
Lemn’s full pledge, along with Annie Lennox’s, Lisa Faulkner’s and over 1,100 other supporters, is on display on our pledge wall now.
Coram is nearing its official 275th birthday on October 17th, which will mark 275 years of helping vulnerable children.
To mark this milestone, Coram is calling on all supporters to sign the pledge and help us reach children who feel invisible and are at risk today.
Lemn Sissay, MBE, is a supporter of both Coram and the Foundling Museum, which tells the Coram story since 1739 through its nationally-important collection of art, displays and memorabilia.
Lemn is also this year’s Coram Foundling Fellow, a fellowship extended to artists whose work resonates with the visionary, creative philanthropy of Thomas Coram and early supporters William Hogarth and George Frideric Handel.
The mural and graphic work currently on display by Sissay in the Foundling Museum is titled Superman was a Foundling.
The project aims to reveal and elevate fictional stars of popular and classic culture who were fostered, adopted and orphaned.
On Tuesday 8 October Lemn will also be giving an inspirational and personal talk at the Foundling Museum on his life in care, past and present. The talk will be followed by a screening of his BBC documentary film, Internal Flight.
The Coram story has inspired many other contemporary artists, including the novels Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson and Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin, which both tell of children who grew up in the care of the Foundling Hospital, as Coram was originally known.
Coram continues today as a leading charity helping a million children every year, and since 1739 has helped provided refuge and support, saving the lives of thousands of children.
We stand up for today’s ‘invisible’ children who might otherwise be overlooked or ignored. Children like Billy, who was born to a mother chronically addicted to drugs and needed a foster family from the day he was born to ensure he would grow up safe and well Children like Laura, who endured terrible treatment until her teenage years, when we provided her with a safe place to live and support to go forward into adulthood.
As well as its pledge wall, Coram is also inviting supporters on social media to sign up for its Thunderclap, which will automatically update Twitter or Facebook with an anniversary message.
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