Cultural Inclusion

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The  Charity’s  Mission

Since 1991, we have made it our mission to transform the lives of children and young people by creating opportunities to learn, grow and develop through education. Therefore, the focus of our funding is on projects that support all children and young people. One way that we do this is by supporting high quality, accessible arts and cultural provision for D/deaf, visually impaired, disabled and neurodivergent young people. Inclusion and access has always been at the heart of our grant-making, funding important projects and creating opportunities for young people with special educational needs and/or disability whilst also calling on other funders, organisations, schools and special schools to embrace and follow our same ethos. However, none of this happened by accident. In 2015, we identified that there were fewer applications that specifically supported children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, with only 15 grants awarded within that Programme Area that year. Taking our own 30+ years of experience, we engaged in conversations with existing beneficiaries and explored our grant-making practice. It was here that we discovered a disconnect between the Arts sector and special schools and thus resulted in the Perspectives Series.

Stronger Voices Together: A New Perspective


Through our Perspectives series, we’ve challenged arts organisations, schools, music hubs, and other funders to rethink opportunities for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.  

Continuing in this mission, John Lyon’s Charity is proud to introduce Stronger Voices Together: A New Perspective, a podcast series dedicated to exploring the diverse world of disability and inclusion, hosted by Lucy Edwards, award-winning blind presenter, content creator and disability activist. 

This series will unfold over five thought-provoking episodes, each released every two weeks from Tuesday 23rd April. You can listen to the full episodes wherever you find your podcast or watch via our dedicated podcast webpage below.


Resources