To improve the quality of life for children with complex needs and life-limiting illness through free access to a new Digital Christmas show
by Embracing Arts in Faversham, England, United Kingdom
If we reach our stretch target, we can engage with even more children by increasing the outreach of our services. We will be able to connect with more SEND schools to offer them our Christmas show and workshops - reaching children who face difficulties participating in the arts due to barriers they face through disability.
Our Mission
Our mission at Embracing Arts is to improve the quality of life for children with complex needs and life-limiting conditions by providing high quality interactive Christmas shows, Inclusive Parties and Schools Workshops across the UK. We have been touring in-person to children's hospices and SEND schools since 2009, and this year sees the launch of our second sensory and interactive digital show, Phoebe's First Christmas. We aim to deliver our show to every children's hospice and to 200 SEND schools across the UK throughout the festive period - entirely for free - helping us to reach, entertain and support over 3,000 children and their families.
Our Christmas Project
Following the success of our first digital show in 2020, our festive project, Christmas for Kids proudly presents another digital offering for 2021! Our fun and friendly puppets come together again to introduce their new friend, Phoebe, to all things festive in Phoebe’s First Christmas:
Combining music, puppetry, colourful visuals and sensory play, each Christmas gift the puppets open throughout the show reveals an element of Christmas celebration, which transports the audience into a world of play, fantasy and sensory exploration. The interactive elements of the show are guided by a Resource E-Pack and accompanying ‘how to’ videos.
"This year a couple of the panto companies sent us links to their live shows but it just wasn’t nearly as good as the C4K panto. They are just for the general public and not designed for our children, the children get bored. The C4K show was brilliant - it lifted all of our moods. We all laughed and laughed. "- Staff Carer, Children's Hospice, 2020
Our projects are specially designed for children who are often excluded from the arts due to the barriers they face through disability. We work with children with Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), complex care and educational needs and those with life-limiting illness. We make the content of our shows, parties and workshops all-inclusive - involving siblings, carers, parents and teachers just as much as the children themselves to provide a shared experience that everyone can enjoy.
What we aim to do
- Enable children with complex needs and people in their wider support network – parents, siblings, carers, and staff - to experience escapism and joy at Christmas
- Enable children to feel included through fully interactive Christmas shows that reflect and celebrate being different
- Provide children with a unique theatrical experience provided by top class performers who adapt to each individual
- Improve the emotional wellbeing of parents, siblings, carers and staff
- Provide skills development and community engagement opportunities for actors – with a focus on those early on in their careers and actors with visible/invisible disabilities
“We had one teenager that struggles with his expressions and in fact this was a first time in a very long time we saw him smile and give active eye contact, which was amazing to catch on camera and I was able to show mum this.” - Carer, Haven House Children’s Hospice
As we are a very small charity, every donation makes a huge difference to us, and every penny goes directly to delivering our services to those children who need it the most - especially in the face of continued difficulties and isolation caused by Covid-19.
From all of us at Embracing Arts, THANK YOU!!!
This project offers rewards in return for your donation