The Perspectives series – a journey towards cultural inclusion
John Lyon’s Charity has been a long-term supporter of Arts activities for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Since 2019 we have committed over £3.5million to projects that provide a range of opportunities and activities to try and provide some parity for D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people with their non-disabled and neurotypical friends. Grants have been awarded directly to mainstream schools, special schools and special needs settings, to Arts and cultural organisations that are part of the cultural landscape of London as well as to specialist organisations that exist solely to provide support and activities to this cohort of young people.
Throughout our years of experience funding these kinds of projects, John Lyon’s Charity has been afforded a unique position to be able to have a bird’s eye view of a sector that is so often over-looked. Through conversations with grantees and examination of grant reports, the Charity identified huge variances in both the quantity and quality of activities on offer for D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people and how vital the support of both parents and schools can be in creating successful activities.
John Lyon’s Charity is not an expert in delivering projects for D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people; but we do have the ability to convene experts in this area and to amplify their voices and learn from them to try and create structural change. Using our networks across the Arts, special schools, Music Hubs, and funding sectors, John Lyon’s Charity has challenged these groups to think about how they work together to benefit young people. Perspectives (2016), Change of Perspectives (2019) and Stand up for SEND (2020) provided a medium for the viewpoints of these stakeholders to be drawn together for the first time, collating the views of all stakeholders involved.
Perspectives and Change of Perspectives highlighted that there had been a considerable shift in how organisations prioritised working for this cohort of young people. More opportunities were available and Arts organisations felt more confident in adapting their programmes to deliver in special educational needs settings. However, fast forward to 2024, in the post-Covid 19 pandemic era: what has changed? What impact has the pandemic and other contextual events and scenarios had on the delivery of projects in schools? What steps are Arts organisations taking themselves to represent those whom they are seeking to work.
A New Perspective is a timely look at the current state of the relationships between Arts organisations and special schools. Sticking to our MO we started this process in June 2023 by issuing surveys to Arts organisations, special schools, and other funding organisations to explore these areas and questions on inclusion. These were followed up in November 2023 with a series of Roundtable events which brought together experts in the sector to discuss “what next” and what more needs to be done.
This report brings together the very fascinating findings of our research.
£12,739,683
Awarded in grants towards special educational needs and / or disability since 2014
£3,905,560
Awarded in grants towards cultural inclusion since 2014
41
Partnerships between SEN settings and Arts organisations since 2016
Stand up for SEND
Perspectives and Change of Perspectives provided a medium for the viewpoints of stakeholders to be drawn together for the first time and the resulting Stand up for SEND Call to Action amplified the views and voices of those in the sector to create the five pillars that represent best practice in designing and delivering projects for children and young people with special needs and disabilities.
Stand Up for SEND challenges the sector to do more collaboratively to ensure that all opportunities are the best they can be. We challenge our funding colleagues, Arts organisations and special schools to take these principles on board when considering applying for funding, developing projects or awarding grants by embracing the following calls to action:
- Accept the cost
- A whole family approach
- Build career pathways
- Inclusivity starts with you
- Find it, do it, share it.
Stronger Voices Together – A New Perspective podcast series
John Lyon’s Charity launched its inaugural podcast series Stronger Voices Together in April 2024. The podcast champions and promotes inclusive opportunities for children and young people with learning and access needs amplifying their experiences, along with their families and the schools and organisations working with them. We want to encourage discussion and debate about what is needed to make more high quality opportunities a reality.
Stronger Voices Together is hosted by broadcaster, journalist and disability activist Lucy Edwards. With 1.8M followers on TikTok and over 350 million views on YouTube, in 2019, Lucy became the first-ever blind presenter to host on BBC Radio One and has since won awards for her BBC documentary ‘How Does A Blind Girl Go On Safari?’.
The five podcast episodes are available on the majority of podcast streaming services and filmed versions of each episode are available at jlc.london/culturalinclusion
- The Cultural Capital Gap
- The Power of Language
- Embracing Inclusive Practice
- Building Career Pathways
- A Whole Family Approach
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