Susan Vickers Foundation Returns to Wolverhampton Art Gallery with "Music Is What Feelings Sound Like"
Second annual exhibition, officially opened by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, invites visitors to experience the emotional journeys of care-experienced people through the music that speaks for them
WOLVERHAMPTON – The Susan Vickers Foundation is proud to announce the return of its art exhibition to Wolverhampton Art Gallery, running throughout August 2026. "Music Is What Feelings Sound Like" is the Foundation's second exhibition in partnership with the gallery, following last year's celebrated debut, "What Makes Us Happy," and will be officially opened by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Paul Singh, on Wednesday 19th August 2026.
This year's exhibition explores the powerful relationship between music and emotion for care-experienced children, young people, and families. Each piece on display is linked to a song, an album, or a set of lyrics chosen by care-experienced individuals to represent a feeling, a memory, or a moment that mattered to them—with artwork drawing directly from album covers and lyrics that gave voice to what words alone could not say.
"Music finds us before words do," said Susan Vickers, Founder of the Susan Vickers Foundation. "For so many of the people we work with, a song has been the thing that understood them when nothing else could. This exhibition is about honouring that—showing that even our most private feelings are shared more often than we think."
The Mayor's attendance at the official opening underscores the significant impact of the Susan Vickers Foundation's work and reflects Wolverhampton City Council's ongoing commitment to supporting care-experienced people through cultural initiatives.
Care experience can mean growing up without always having the space to be heard. For many participants, music has filled that space—as company, as comfort, and as a way of processing what words alone couldn't hold. Every image in the exhibition is, in that sense, a piece of someone's story, translated into sound and then back into image.
The exhibition forms part of the Foundation's ongoing mission to provide cultural capital and creative opportunity for care-experienced people across Wolverhampton, building on the trauma-informed therapy, training, and support the Foundation delivers throughout the year.
About the Exhibition
Title: "Music Is What Feelings Sound Like"
Dates: Runs throughout August 2026 (1st–31st August)
Official Opening: Wednesday 19th August 2026, opened by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Cllr Paul Singh
Times: [OPENING HOURS – TO CONFIRM, e.g. 10:30am–4:00pm, excluding bank holidays]
Venue: Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1DU
Admission: Free for all visitors
Organisers: Susan Vickers Foundation in partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery
About the Susan Vickers Foundation
The Susan Vickers Foundation is an award-winning, lived-experience-led organisation providing trauma-informed therapy, training, and support for care-experienced children, young people, and families across Wolverhampton and the surrounding areas. Founded on the belief that healing happens when people feel truly understood, the Foundation works alongside those who have lived through the care system to build services shaped by real experience, not assumption.
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