Countdown to the start of the Big Give Arts For Impact Campaign!
A life-changing dance trip – ENRICH ’26!
We are raising money through Arts for Impact for ENRICH ‘26, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young people with learning disabilities.
Incredible experiences like this are rare and costly. Your donation WILL make dreams come true & transform the lives of DS Youth, as well as their families.
In April 2026, we hope to take a group of 10 young dancers with learning disabilities to perform in front of an international audience at Disneyland Paris; an enriching experience for performers and audiences alike, challenging perceptions of what people with learning disabilities can achieve and championing inclusivity in the arts.
For one week only, donations to support this trip will be doubled by the Big Give.
To donate, visit the Big Give ‘Arts for Impact’ campaign. Every donation will be matched for 7 days from 12pm on Tuesday, 18th March – 12pm Tuesday, 25th March, ensuring twice the impact.
For one week only, any donations made will be doubled by the Big Give.
To donate, visit the Big Give Arts for Impact campaign. Every donation will be matched for 7 days from 12pm on 18th March – 12pm 25th March, ensuring twice the impact.
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About The Campaign
The Need
Inclusive opportunities for people with learning disabilities to access, engage with, progress and perform in the arts are severely limited; impacting life chances, happiness and reaching potential. This inequity of opportunity exacerbates the overwhelming disadvantages that people with learning disabilities face and create barriers to living a full life; poor self-esteem, low confidence, ill health, and significant isolation.
The Project
DanceSyndrome transforms lives and creates real change, joy and opportunities for people with learning disabilities, using dance in a ground-breaking way. We offer a broad programme of inclusive dance activity using our unique methodology of co-design and co-delivery. Our inclusive dance activity addresses health and wellbeing inequalities, social inclusion, prevention and transformation.
We have an ambitious Children and Young People strategy which aims to develop a full pathway from early years to adulthood in the communities where we operate by 2030. Our DS Youth collective is central to this strategy as they go out and perform to break down societal perceptions & to communicate our key messages about why inclusion is so important in dance and wider society. They are the next generation of DanceSyndrome performers, and we want to provide them with incredible experiences that both enrich & transform their lives. In addition, this unique opportunity will help them to grow in confidence & give hope that anything is possible & dreams like this can become a reality!
Through the Big Give ‘Arts for Impact’ project, we hope to raise funds for our project “ENRICH ’26.” In their steering group meeting in September 2024, our DS Youth collective performers told us that they would love to perform at Disneyland Paris. We want to make their dreams a reality and are planning how we can take 10 young dancers with learning disabilities to perform on this international stage. This will be an enriching experience for performers and audiences alike, challenging perceptions of what people with learning disabilities can achieve and championing inclusivity in the arts.
Participant parents tells us why this opportunity is important:
“Seeing my daughter happy and enjoying dance makes me feel happy. It has always been a struggle finding dance classes that are inclusive. Many say they are however they didn’t fully understand my daughter which lead to frustration on my part that there was nothing out there for her.”
“I am absolutely amazed by DanceSyndrome and what it stands for. Everyone I have met who is involved with DanceSyndrome have been nothing but welcoming, friendly and approachable. I am in awe of DanceSyndrome and what it does for people with additional needs.”
How you can help
The trip will cost in the region of £20,000 to deliver so DanceSyndrome needs to generate £10,000 of public donations during the campaign to be able to make this project a success.
So… we need your help! Can you donate to support our work? Or can you run your own small scale campaign for cash donations which can then be donated online during the campaign?
You could:
- like and share our story on your social media and with friends and family
- ask colleagues in your workplace to donate the cost of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine
- run a 50:50 draw, raffle or tombola
- do a sponsored activity
- host a bake sale, quiz night, film night or table top sale
If you need any support with your fundraising, please contact our team at info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
To donate, please set a reminder on your calendar to visit our Big Give Arts for Impact campaign between 12pm on Tuesday 18th March and 12pm on Tuesday 25th March. You can also support us by sharing our appeal on social media. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X and LinkedIn to see regular updates during the week, which is also Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week – what better time to support our work?
