We Create : SEND Schools.
Commissioner: Arts Connect

Commissioned by Arts Connect and University of Wolverhampton, Arts in Action CIC delivered a series of inclusive creative workshops with children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). Many of the participants were not usually considered able to take part in arts activities. We also  had sessions in the community for those children not able to access school.

Working responsively to each group’s needs, Arts in Action designed bespoke workshops and provided specialist materials tailored to each setting and cohort. Children who were non-verbal and had profound disabilities explored mark-making and sensory processes; their carers described each child’s responses, with words added to the artwork to reflect their experiences. From this process, powerful individual and collaborative canvases were created.

Other settings explored gelli-printing and expressive mark-making to produce printed papers, which were then collaged together to form shapes and large-scale class murals. In one setting, we also experimented with animation and storytelling, resulting in imaginative narratives inspired by the children’s special interests and shared themes.

The work was exhibited for eight weeks at SENSE TouchBase Pears, the national headquarters of SENSE, and culminated in a special private view and celebration event.