Get the Message is a collaborative project between young people with learning disabilities, teachers and artists.
The project aims to challenge perceptions of disability as a limitation through collaborative activities which champion all forms of communication and self expression. Through encounters with contemporary art practice both in galleries and working with artists, Get the Message offers innovative approaches to working with young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.
Artists Emma McGarry and Adam Walker worked with The Bridge, Swiss Cottage and The Village Schools to explore the theme of ‘Stage’. The year culminated with an exhibition of students’ work and a series of events for schools and families to accompany the exhibition.
Get the Message provides creative and professional development for all participants, including training days and a mentoring scheme for artists, and CPD for teachers and arts educators working with students with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). Pupils can benefit from continuation opportunities through bursary places on our youth project How Can Art? and through participating in youth activities across Camden Art Centre’s education programme.
Over the previous year, we have run the Get the Message Working Group, made up of gallery and museum education professionals. The group aimed to investigate strategies for developing fully inclusive policies and practices within gallery environments, through the discussion of factors affecting access to education programmes for learning disabled people.
Get the Message has been running since 2002.
