We are committed to creating lifelong journeys with art. We work with partners to create opportunities for everyone to access art and exhibitions, and to make art themselves. 

Our Happy Mondays programme has been running since 2022. It was created to address gaps in provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, supporting them to access and enjoy cultural spaces. 

To deliver the project, we work with specialist schools to create bespoke programmes that respond to students’ needs. Helen Jacobs, Head of Learning and Engagement at the RWA, says: “It’s really important that young people know that cultural spaces are for them, that they feel safe in them, that they feel welcomed in them, and that they can be free to express themselves in whatever way they need.” 

Happy Mondays takes place when the galleries are closed to the public. This allows young people to move around and interact with the space as much or as little as they wish — and as quietly or loudly as they wish. 

We recently welcomed students from Briarwood Senior School to our summer exhibition, Dance Out. The students had been working with one of our artist facilitators in their school setting, and this was their first visit to the RWA. 

The students particularly enjoyed interacting with the BEAT BLOCKS haptic dance floor, with staff sharing that it was “great to have music and dance”. BEAT BLOCKS staff joined the session, adjusting the music in real time and taking requests from the young people, as students and staff “threw shapes around the gallery”. 

One young person requested Whitney Houston and as her song played “lit up like a superstar… singing I Will Always Love You and doing ‘diva pointing’ at everyone in the group”. Helen described the visit as the most “expressive session with a SEND group in the gallery space” — full of “moments of pure joy”. BEAT BLOCKS staff reflected that watching the students enjoy the exhibition so much “nearly brought them to tears”. 

Building on the success of Briarwood Senior School’s visit, our collaboration with BEAT BLOCKS will continue throughout Dance Out, with further sessions planned for community groups.  

You can catch Dance Out at the RWA until 9 August. 

Image credit: BEAT BLOCKS Dance Floor, Dance Out. Khali Ackford / KoLAB Studios