Woohoo! We got the grant!
Earlier this year, LET’S was hired by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival to create and provide supplies for a low sensory space at their festival. Following that collaboration, we were approached and asked to partner again with Vancouver International Children’s Festival for a grant application specifically for a young audience.
The project aims to engage in a meaningful dialogue with children and their caregivers for whom the “regular” theatre environment is not welcoming or accessible. We will have conversations about how relaxed performances can best support them. We will have consultation sessions to find out what works, what needs to be adjusted and what we still need to work on. We will implement what we learn in the 2025 festival and follow up with another conversation to assess how our learnings worked in practice.
(Young child, smiling, with noise cancelling headphones.)
Relaxed Performances support many people who would otherwise not be able to attend or feel comfortable attending theatre performances. Because they address many different barriers in different ways, the audiences that benefit from them are incredibly diverse, including but certainly not limited to people (living with):
- sensory sensitivities
- anxiety / phobias
- on the autism spectrum
- ADHD
- chronic pain
- a developmental disability
- Tourette’s Syndrome
VICF has been working on a gradual process to meaningfully expand the reach of their festival to audiences whose needs are currently not being met. We have come to understand that simply implementing existing practices is often not the most effective avenue. Firstly, there is an assumption that these practices (often designed for adult audiences) will simply apply to younger audiences. Moreover, from talking to people in the disability community we learned that the most important part in this work is building relationships. People are much more inclined to participate if they have been part of the process and practices are based on their input.
There is a need to develop new ways to base decision making that breaks the colonial mold where we assume we can make decisions for others without input from the people affected by those choices.
Little work has been done here in BC to see how this applies to children and their families. This project will develop a specific strategy for and by them as well as an ongoing conversation to ensure future decisions are made with input from the community.
Following is the letter of support LET’S provided to the grant:
LET’S is excited to partner with the Vancouver International Children’s Festival on their Kid’s Council on Relaxed Performances project.
LET’S is an organization entirely run and staffed by disabled and neurodivergent folks who utilize their lived expertise to create essential change. LET’S was created in 2005 because of experiences with inaccessibility and ableism. Accessibility remains our priority. We do accessibility audits, advocate for necessary change, and educate about the broad spectrum of disability and neurodivergence, access needs, and how to create more equitable spaces.
An example of LET’S’ work is our low sensory spaces. LET’S’ spaces are created and facilitated by neurodivergent folks with lived expertise. Low sensory spaces are specially designed safe, calming environments created for neurodivergent folks. They provide customized environments for people to decompress and have much needed breaks from overwhelming sensory input (noise, crowds, smells, lighting), strong emotions, and socializing.
(A parent and child taking a much needed break from the Kamloops Pride festivities at LET’S’ low sensory space.)
Our Executive Director launched this service because they wanted to provide the type of spaces they needed when younger. It is quite emotional to work within these spaces. There are a lot of wonderful, visceral emotions. People cry, upon seeing the space, because they feel represented, seen, and valued. Parents, who have just been diagnosed as neurodivergent because their child was diagnosed, cry when they see that their children are being afforded the spaces they needed, when younger, but did not have.
Within moments of being in our space, disabled and neurodivergent folks know that the spaces are created by others who have disabilities and are neurodivergent. Lived Expertise Matters is LET’S’ motto. For too long, non-disabled and non-neurodivergent people have been making decisions for our communities and it has not been meeting our needs. It matters that we are an integral part of the planning, creation, and running of accessibility. LET’S has a long, proud history of community consultation and facilitating these discussions.
We are excited by this project because it is seeking voices and opinions directly from children. Unfortunately, all too often, they are not provided the opportunity to share their lived expertise, needs, and visions. We see the children who use our low sensory spaces brighten when they see that their needs are being met, that they are being listened and responded to, and that they have ways to offer feedback and enhance the experience of other children, teens, and adults.
In support of this project, LET’S is committed to providing our expertise, community connections and resources in the following ways:
- outreach to find participants,
- feedback and consulting on the overall plan,
- facilitating discussions, and
- ensuring safer spaces.
We hope you will see the value of this project and support our work.