Support Spectrum: Become a Sponsor Today!

Are you passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities and additional needs? Here's your chance to do just that! Spectrum Community Arts is calling upon businesses, organizations, and individuals to join us in our mission of fostering inclusivity and empowerment through the performing arts by becoming sponsors.

Why Sponsor Spectrum?

At Spectrum, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to experience the transformative power of the arts, to achieve this we depend on our incredible corporate sponsors to support our mission! We have recently completely reworked our entire sponsorship program and it is now easier than ever to become a Spectrum Sponsor!

There are so many benefits of sponsorship, firstly you will directly contribute to the continuation and expansion of our vital programs, workshops, and initiatives, ensuring that individuals with disabilities and additional needs have access to the performing arts. Also, you gain brand visibility, exposure and recognition among our diverse community of participants, families, volunteers, and supporters. You can showcase your commitment to social responsibility and community involvement, and may be eligible for a deduction on corporate income taxes!  

We offer a range of packages for all businesses, from just £150.00 a year, as well as offering bespoke sponsorship packages- tailored to meet your specific goals and objectives, so everybody wins!

Whether you're a small business looking to give back to your community, a corporate entity seeking to enhance your corporate social responsibility initiatives, or an individual eager to support a cause close to your heart, there's a sponsorship opportunity for you at Spectrum.

Visit www.spectrumca.co.uk/sponsors to find out more!

Widgit’s 40th Birthday celebrations!

2023 saw Widgit celebrate its 40th anniversary. Widgit provides and creates symbols to support people worldwide to realise their full potential. It is a system used across most special schools and within most SEN settings to support the understanding of the written word.

   As part of their 40th birthday celebrations, they were collaborating with their local special school, Evergreen, in Warwick and wanted Spectrum to run some workshops for the whole school to engage with!! Months of planning and virtual meetings went into creating the perfect bespoke workshops with the school’s curriculum topic of ‘Celebrating Differences’! Over the summer Spectrum created 3 pre-recorded workshops - Faye created a ‘sing & sign’ video, Poppy a ‘learn a dance routine’ video and Jade a ‘sensory movement’ video. All three videos incorporated Widgit symbols, Spectrum energy and lots of fun! Each class teacher then chose which one best suited their pupils’ needs! The pupils worked hard, using these videos as a tool, to create something to perform for their parent/carers before Christmas!

   In November, Jade and Poppy went to the school for 2 days to work with the pupils with the highest levels of support needs in person. They transformed a classroom on each site into an immersive, sensory space and provided five 45-minute ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ storytelling workshops each day!

Sue White, the Senior Education Specialist at Widgit Software said:

“Spectrum Community Arts was able to deliver a series of Sensory Workshops that were accessible to all pupils, in spite of complex needs and differing age ranges. To see each child engage, in their own way, with the different sensory experiences was absolutely amazing and brought joy not just to the pupils but to all staff and visitors too. A fantastic couple of days and I can not recommend Spectrum Community Arts highly enough!”

While the narrative and characters were based on the well-known Julia Donaldson story, the book they used in the sessions had been re-created by Widgit using their symbols and artwork to best suit the sensory offerings, live music and movement offerings on the day!! It was a really big event, with the High Sheriff of Warwickshire, Sophie Hilleary, joining in too! There’s a write-up in the local newspaper here: No barriers to performing in Warwick - The Leamington Observer 

There were SO many wonderful moments throughout the workshops from pupils engaging with us who usually don’t transition from their own classrooms, to beautiful moments of independent choice and lots of smiles, sensory conversations and joy!

You can watch a video with some footage of these sessions JUST CLICK HERE

https://vimeo.com/891048929/b7e5e450f5?share=copy

Nick, the executive head at Evergreen school said:

“I just wanted to express my sincere thanks on behalf of the entire Evergreen community for facilitating and organising the wonderful spectrum workshops across the school… everyone was just blown away by the impact of these sessions. It is not often that we can deliver workshops across the entire school that are so well designed to meet the varying needs of pupils. The spectrum team are clearly very talented and we just feel so fortunate to be able to work alongside you [Widgit] to deliver such a wonderful provision.”

1st - 2nd of March: The Smeds and the Smoos - World Book Day at Ridgeway School...

The Ridgeway School in Kempston invited Spectrum to deliver workshops for their pupils for World Book Day. The theme: The Smeds and The Smoos by Julia Donaldson is a story about two groups of aliens who at first don’t like each other but then end up becoming friends. The team had to take the book and work out ways of exploring it for 3 different groups! Jade and Sarah went in first to deliver immersive, sensory workshops for the PMLD students! They decorated the space with lights, fabrics and lots of things to touch, move and explore. They chose some main points from the story to explore in sensory offerings - including jelly in pots

from the jerberrycoot fruits from the stories, dressing up as aliens and going through the wurpular woods and smelling rose petals as they floated through the air from a far-off planet!

But the story was far from over. The next day, Jade and Poppy delivered four sessions in the morning, where once again the students became aliens and explored distant planets through dance and acting. Then in the afternoon, Jade and Poppy co-led the school’s oldest class where they created their own dance routine and showed off their skills the next day in assembly. Teachers were mesmerised with how the sessions helped engage the children and were delighted to see the children interacting and being creative, with one saying,

“Fantastic immersive session for World Book Day.”

"Jade came in to run a World Book Day workshop based on The Smeds and The Smoos. The children were completely enthralled and engaged with every activity! They enjoyed dancing, drama and singing at an appropriate level to suit their needs. A wonderful session!"