The three successful organisations are Creative Arts East and Stopgap Dance Company, both working in the East of England and DanceSyndrome in the North West.
This year’s challenge fund focuses on inspiring people through music and dance, and all three of these projects got us very excited about the innovative ways they will be doing exactly that.
Spirit of 2012 Chief Executive, Debbie Lye, explained: “This year’s challenge fund focuses on inspiring people through music and dance, and all three of these projects got us very excited about the innovative ways they will be doing exactly that. Dance Syndrome is an excellent example of user-led inclusive arts development. I’m also particularly pleased that two of the three organisations are in the East of England – an area where we’ve been keen to invest more for a while. It’s fantastic that two excellent projects have materialised at the same time to help us move that ambition forward.”
DanceSyndrome
DanceSyndrome was formed in 2009 with the aim of informing and empowering people through dance. The charity, founded by dancer Jen Blackwell who has Down syndrome, provides creative and fun learning opportunities for anyone who wants to improve their physical health and personal wellbeing. Spirit of 2012 have awarded £190,259 to enable their continued provision of inclusive dance workshops and leadership training. These sessions allow disabled and non-disabled people to come together and enjoy dance sessions that cater for people of all ages and abilities.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director, Dawn Vickers, said: “Receiving this funding from Spirit of 2012 is a huge boost for DanceSyndrome! It means that we can reach out to even more people and show them that dance is not only a powerful tool for building confidence, life skills and happiness, but also that everyone can be involved in all activities in our society – regardless of whether they have a disability or not.”
Stopgap Dance Company
Spirit has awarded £206,995 to Stopgap Dance Company for a three-year project that aims to embed inclusive dance classes in Norfolk. Stopgap will work with partners Norfolk & Norwich Festival and DanceEast and various local schools to train dance teachers and to engage young people in the area to participate. The funding from Spirit will also enable them to perform a large-scale outdoor production in Great Yarmouth as part of Norfolk & Norwich Festival in 2018.
Sho Shibata, Executive Producer at Stopgap Dance Company, said: “We will be training local dance teachers to deliver an inclusive dance syllabus (IRIS) as part of this project, which will be the first time we have attempted to embed the syllabus outside the south east of England. Our long-term aim is to make the syllabus available nationally and internationally, and this is the first step in testing how the company can manage that remotely. In the future, we hope that IRIS will create a level playing field for disabled and non-disabled dance students everywhere, so that they can achieve artistic excellence together as equals.”
Creative Arts East
Creative Arts East have been awarded £231,110 of Spirit funding to provide a unique dementia-friendly programme for rurally-isolated older people in Norfolk. The programme aims to reinvigorate their engagement with high quality arts and also to evaluate the impact of regular creative engagement on the wellbeing of elders, and the perception of disability within that group. The 3 year programme will provide opportunities for people to engage with culture and creativity through fortnightly, participatory music and dance sessions in a minimum of 6 rural communities across Breckland and North Norfolk. Creative Arts East plan to work with local and national dance and music organisations to deliver an exciting programme of activities and to share learning and creative output with the wider community through celebratory events.
Natalie Jode, Executive Director of Creative Arts East, said: “Our Day Out has been running as a pilot scheme for the past 18 months; initiated and subsequently funded by Breckland Council in Norfolk. Spirit of 2012 funding will enable us at Creative Arts East to establish longer-term stability and artistic development for this innovative programme, which makes a real difference to the lives of some the most isolated people within our community. Mike tells us that ‘these sessions are essential to wellbeing’ and Peter has said ‘Dad and I have found the sessions a great help, good fun and something to look forward to. Thank you!’”
Additional information:
Almost one fifth of the UK’s population are disabled people, so should have every opportunity to be as active as non-disabled people, yet they are half as likely to be as active as non-disabled people. Physical activity can make a fundamental difference to everyone’s quality of life, increase independence and benefit the economy.
Physical inactivity has unsustainable health, economic and social impacts on individuals, families, communities and local services in England including one in six deaths (equal to smoking) and an annual cost to society of £7.4 billion.
Seven in ten disabled people want to be more active, representing a huge and ‘untapped’ market. Six in ten (64 per cent) of disabled people would prefer to take part in sport and physical activity with a mix of disabled and non-disabled people.
(Source: EFDS lifestyle report 2013).
About Spirit of 2012
Spirit of 2012 is an independent trust, established with a £47m endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. We fund projects that empower people to get out, be involved and feel better. We fund partners that provide opportunities in sports, physical activity, arts and culture, volunteering and social action. www.spiritof2012trust.org.uk
Further information
DanceSyndrome
Stopgap Dance Company
Creative Arts East