We are delighted to announce that the Creative Learning team at Sunderland Empire were winners at the National Autistic Society’s prestigious Autism Professionals Awards last month at the Harrogate International Centre.
The Creative Learning team won the award for Inspirational Education Provision (Other) and had been shortlisted by an independent panel of 10 autism experts who commended them for going “above and beyond” in their work to provide opportunities to autistic people and their families.
Over the past 4 years, the Creative Learning team at Sunderland Empire have strived to deliver unique projects with the autism community, both at Sunderland Empire and through outreach across the Sunderland area. The key remit for these projects is to deliver interesting, leading and exceptional work in autism access and creative learning engagement.
In 2015, the Creative Learning team were successful in achieving Arts Council funding to support ‘Get Curious!’ This ASD Family Learning project was delivered in Partnership with National Theatre and their acclaimed production the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, supported by local cultural organisations from across Sunderland.
The astounding outcomes of this very special project based learning have resulted in the identification across the UK of this project as a unique example of best practise. The close working relationships forged continue to grow and the Creative Learning team have developed an Autism-specific youth theatre in collaboration with No Limits Theatre. The project has been instrumental in leading Sunderland towards having a city wide autism friendly family offer, specifically across the Sunderland Family Arts Network.
The success of our projects is heavily dependent on strong, local partnership work and we would like to thank all of our participants, parents and key partners in particular No Limits Theatre, all of whom we represented to bring home this truly magnificent award.”
The Autism Professionals Awards have been created to recognise and reward services and professionals who are leading the way in innovative autism practice and making a real difference to the lives of autistic people in the UK.
Relaxed performance are going from strength to strength at Sunderland Empire and the next performances planned include David Walliams Gangsta Granny on Saturday 13 May 2017 at 10.30am and the magical pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk on Wednesday 27 December 2017 at 5pm.