Building on the success of Inclusive Folk

English Dance and Song Autumn 2019

This article was published in English Dance and Song, the magazine of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The world’s oldest magazine for folk music and dance, EDS was first published in 1936 and is essential reading for anyone with a passion for folk arts. 

EFDSS’ Education Manager Cassie Tait discusses our pilot project for disabled young people – and how we intend to build on it.

Last year, EFDSS launched Inclusive Folk – a seven-month pilot project developed to increase access to folk arts opportunities for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEN/D), their friends, family and carers. This project was made possible with the generous support of the grant-giving charity funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery

Emmie Ward, lead tutor for the project, brought her many years of teaching experience in SEN/D settings and as a folk musician to develop the approach and methodology for the project, in collaboration with core tutor team, Joe Danks and Freda D’Souza, our trainee. The team grew as we delivered outreach work, with Aimee Leonard, Beth Gifford, Jo May, Pete Watson, Kerry Fletcher, Matt Brooks and Ben Moss all contributing their own specialist knowledge and skills.

The project included establishing Folk Unlimited’s regular music and dance sessions at Cecil Sharp House; delivering workshops in six outreach settings; the creation of a new learning resource for EFDSS’ free online Resource Bank; and training opportunities for folk educators.

Folk Unlimited, with fortnightly sessions on Sunday afternoons, has offered a regular music provision for disabled young people that is totally inclusive and engages participants and also their carers and friends. In addition to offering music-making, song and dance of a very high quality with professional folk musicians, these sessions have also provided a supportive, social and friendly place for our core group of eight participants and their families to meet. Feedback has been positive, with comments that the sessions have been a valuable and creative part of the lives of carers and young people alike, enhancing their confidence, interpersonal skills and sense of wellbeing. Each session has been themed to explore a different part of the UK or further afield, looking at dance, music, song and stories from the region. Participants have had the chance to develop their musical ability and understanding of cultural heritage. From coal mining and rapper dancing in the north east of England, to ‘Hal an Tow’ and the Helston Furry Dance in Cornwall, we have looked at seasonal and geographical traditions. With each session, we found an object of reference to attach with Velcro to our ‘messy map’, a map of the UK we displayed to remind us where we have been and what we have learned.

We have formed and strengthened connections with SEN/D schools, colleges and arts providers in our neighbouring London boroughs, delivering 20 workshops in six SEN/D settings in Brent, Camden, Hackney and Westminster. With positive feedback and a strong evident demand for more of this work to take place, we aim to build on this partnership work.

EFDSS held two music festivals at Cecil Sharp House, inviting groups of young people from our partner settings to come and celebrate spring and summer with us. These events were a fantastic opportunity to bring young people together through maypole and ceilidh dancing, music and song workshops and arts activities, and the days were a huge success.

A newly-created free online digital resource is now available to support teachers and musicians, wherever they are based, to use the folk arts in inclusive learning. Created by Emmie Ward and Joe Danks, Songs of May: using folk arts in inclusive settings is based on material celebrating May traditions, and contains audio, notation, lyrics and teaching notes. You can find the resource at efdss.org/songs-of-may

Through a traineeship, planning and co-tutoring, volunteer opportunities and a continuing professional development (CPD) training day, this project has given us the opportunity to share skills and build experience in inclusive learning across EFDSS staff and amongst folk educators.

We are committed to securing further funding so we can continue to provide opportunities for disabled young people to engage with folk music and dance. This includes the continuation of our Folk Unlimited sessions and our projects with SEN/D schools and colleges. With more funding, we’ll also be able to develop further online resources to be used freely by anyone – around England and beyond. We have learned so much from these projects and cannot wait to develop them further.

Visit efdss.org/folkunlimited