CREATE - Working with Brent Young People with Learning Disabilities

What is CREATE? 

Our collaboration with Create Arts began in 2023. CREATE’s community: matters is a multi-artform programme that empowers some of the most vulnerable young people in Brent. Create partnered with Brent Carers Centre and Brent Gateway (BCC / BG) to reach young carers, Brent Mencap (BM) to reach SEND young people, and Salusbury World (SW) to reach young refugees and migrants.

We bring together young people with SEND, allowing them to contribute to public works such as giant bird feeders that beautify local spaces. This initiative not only brings  visibility to the talents of PWLD but also fosters a sense of pride and ownership among the participants.

We have 4 workshops a year for  14-25 year olds with a learning disability or other disabilities during school holidays. If you know a young person who would benefit from this, please email info@brentmencap.org.uk for details of the next workshop.  

Over three days in August 2023, Create dancer, Beth Coleman, delivered dance workshops with eight SEND young adults. Under Beth’s guidance, young people explored movement and dance. They played warm up games that developed memory skills and illustrated how movements can be combined into form a routine. They wrote lists of their favourite things and developed movements to represent them. They learnt how to use scarves and fabric as part of a movement, travelling around the room imitating the motion and colours of a ‘shoal of fish’. Continuing with this ‘under water’ theme, they drew their own sea creatures and though about how they would move. They used a large, sheer, blue fabric to imitate the sea.

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We have also had sculpture, drama and music workshops which the young people have loved!