Summary
Bright Sparks is a weekly hour-long, multi-art form group for children and young people with a range of additional support needs. It provides a space to work with others, develop new drama skills and explore making performance. It meets on Saturdays from 1-2pm.
What Bright Sparks did
Bright Sparks provides regular opportunities for 12 mixed-ability young people who struggle with mainstream activities, by providing space and time for them to work together using a variety of multi-artform techniques, both verbal and non-verbal, to develop trust, friendships and an increase in confidence, communication, self-expression and socialisation skills. We create a tailored, holistic learning environment that develops participants emotionally, intellectually, socially and physically. It is delivered weekly at Dundee Rep Theatre.
Many children with additional support needs who join a theatre-based workshop may never have had the opportunity to engage socially with peers and to communicate without expectation or judgment. They may struggle to make and maintain friendships. Through experience with our Bright Sparks and their engagement with all aspects of the supportive, welcoming environment of Dundee Rep, children and young people who see the world through a different lens, have the opportunity to interact with others in a way that celebrates being unique. It teaches them how to deal with vulnerability, offers coping strategies for the everyday challenges they may face and develops empathy for others as they better understand their fellow students and their particular needs.
What Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited has learned
We have learned that families/carers of young people with additional support needs were in need of a communal space where they could be among other people like them as well as the general public. On Saturdays our café is bustling with the Bright Sparks families as well as other families with children who have additional support needs, as it's clear that Dundee Rep in an inclusive, accessible and diverse social space.
Weekly Dundee Rep hosts over 300 people in our dance and drama classes and of all our offers, Bright Sparks is the only class that has 100% attendance rate very single week.
How Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited has benefitted from the funding
Just as we've learned about the need for communal spaces (detailed above) we've also learned that our organisation benefits from the weekly classes just as much as the participants. Three years ago we invested heavily in making our toilets accessible and have endeavoured to 'get the word out' about the inclusivity of our building, and this has aided us in doing that. One of the Creative Assistants who work on the project (age 24) also has additional support needs and thrives in the setting.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Children and young people feeling more confident, interconnected and keen to experience further creative activity, including arts-based activity for self-expression.
Results
Bright Sparks are taking part in Boost, the end of the year festival for all Engage class participants, performing for the public, for the second year in a row.
Case study
Participant A's parent has indicated on multiple occasions that their child's teacher has shared examples of how Participant A now engages in school with other classmates and teachers, where before her time as a Bright Spark, she was not confident enough to participate in classroom activities.
Outcome
Carers will have a weekly Saturday afternoon break, feel refreshed and connected to other parents and carers.
Results
Saturday afternoons in the cafe bar, as described earlier in this report, are a now social hub for families with caring responsibilities.
Case study
Several carers have reported that their weekends were "a particularly exhausting time" and they "now look forward to Saturdays at the Rep" to have a "guilt free" break and "networking time" with other people in similar situations as themselves, among other folks who "don't have the same home situation as us but we're still together like a community."
Outcome
Parents and carers will have a weekly break and will have more connection to others in a similar situation and alerted to other opportunities and ways to engage.
Results
Parents and carers have broadened the group who meet on Saturdays to include other people in their other 'networks' so there are additional carers and families beyond just the Bright Sparks, and they all meet in the Dundee Rep café bar.
Case study
Recently one of the families have suffered a sudden and tragic bereavement, and that same week they came to Bright Sparks to be among their friends and their network, citing that they "needed to be with everyone" during that terrible time.
Outcome
Children and young people participating in Bright Sparks will demonstrate improved well-being, both physical and mental/emotional, through participating in creative arts activity over the course of the year.
Results
As detailed above in the previous case studies and outcomes.
Case study
The fact that Bright Sparks participants are consistently here, week after week, no matter what, proves its necessity and importance in the lives of the families.