Groundswell Arts is an arts education charity working with schools, nurseries, children’s centres, libraries, and community settings, with a focus on working with 0–11 year olds, their families and educators. Their free arts-based programmes have family engagement at their heart. Working with dance, drama, animation, film, visual arts, and music, they have a combined arts approach and lead a team of skilled freelance artists, who work and share together within a community of practice.

The organisation has a strong ethos around early years work and increasingly on special needs provision and are currently curating a programme of weekend arts-based offers for families of children with primary movement disorders. They have a number of targeted programmes working with children with life-limiting conditions, virtual schools and children and families in challenging circumstances.

Groundswell Arts’ aim is to build connections amongst families, strengthen attachment bonds between parents and carers and children, and to bring families closer to their education and community settings through shared creative experiences that aim to reduce loneliness and social isolation, growing a stronger sense of community wellbeing. They give everyone the opportunity to tell their own story in their own way.

You can discover all 24 Stories of Family Arts here. If you’d like to discover more fantastic organisations that meet our Family Arts Standards or Age-Friendly Standards explore the Fantastic for Families Directory.