Cultural Inclusion Manifesto
The Lyric were pleased to attend a reception at the House of Commons on Tuesday 22nd January to support the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto, a call to the Arts Council to place Special Education needs and disability access at the core of their next ten-year strategy.
The event that was hosted by MP Sharon Hodgson and supported by NASEN sought to raise awareness about the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto, a document by author Paul Morrow, Lead practitioner for Westminster Special schools.
Speeches from Sharon Hodgson MP, Anita Kerwin-Nye, Adam Boddison and Paul Morrow highlighted the importance of not only ensuring access to Arts and Culture in SEND but the importance of visibility of artists in the industry with disabilities.
The pinnacle of the evening was seeing student from college park deliver his hand written speech on how the arts had supported him that ended with him asking
‘Why should all young people with special needs be included and why is it so important? We are all humans and it’s a human right’
The Lyric are now in our fourth year of being part of the West London SEND Summer Arts Festival, which will see six SEND schools from West London come together to perform at the Lyric in a weeklong residency that will also include an art installation. We are delighted to continue to support the manifesto and are committed as an arts building that sees around 500 young people access the Lyric per week to continue to develop our practice and systems, to ensure we are a fully accessible Theatre.
The Lyric alongside over a 100 signatories including MP’s, London Assembly members, theatres and museums is supporting the manifesto. To find out more and sign the manifesto please go to https://culturalinclusion.uk/support/
Marilyn Rice
Producer of Education