6 Educators providing Sensory courses in Belfast

sensory learning support

imagine! belfast festival of ideas & politics

The 8th Imagine! Belfast Festival proved to be a successful offering involving 147 events and 359 speakers & performers during 21-27 March 2022. The eclectic week of talks, workshops, theatre, poetry, comedy, music, exhibitions, film and tours attracted an audience of 9,210 online and in-person attendees. Most of the events (82%) were free as the festival returned to live events after two years operating online. Although Covid continued to impact on our programme with 17 events cancelled due to illness, we were still able to roll out a huge range of events including headliners such as Michael Ignatieff, Tom Robinson, Helen Thompson, Michael Longley, Ece Temelkuran, Bill Neely and a host of exciting arts and cultural events – with many sold out or oversubscribed. We have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the festival through an audience survey(3.5% sample). Our survey found that 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations. It was particularly pleasing to find that 60% of audience members were attending a festival event for the first time and 37% of the sample had never been to a festival venue before, which suggests that we were able to reach new audiences and introduce them to new venues and partners. Other outcomes included: 12% of attendees came from outside Northern Ireland. Of these, 13% stated the festival was the main reason they were visiting Belfast. Audience spend: Our sample spent an average of £35 attending our events Number of festival partners: 52 Number of international participants: 40 with 27 events organised by participants from outside UK & Ireland Number of free events: 121 – 82% of total events Average ticket price: £7.8 Number of workshops: 14 Number of venues used: 35 Media coverage: Total number of items: 98. Reach: 4,022,796. AVE: £181,881. PR value: £545,644 Positive feedback was also elicited from survey respondents, detailed as follows: 95% of respondents felt the festival satisfied their expectations with only 1% reporting dissatisfaction (increased from 94% in 2021) 95.3% of people answered the question ‘after attending the festival, would you be more likely to attend other politics-related events’ (88% last year) 97.8 of respondents stated they were more likely to recommend the festival to family and friends after attending one of our events with 1.6% stating they felt the same When asked whether the festival promotes Belfast and Northern Ireland in a positive way, 98.4% said yes, with 1.6% responding as ‘don’t know’ People appeared to be reasonably well informed about the festival. 92% of the sample stated they were either well or somewhat informed about the festival prior to attending an event Respondents overwhelmingly found the subject matter of the event/performance as the main reason for attending the festival. However, familiarity with the speaker/performer was also cited as a factor. We also asked whether respondents considered themselves to be disadvantaged and found that 21% of the sample considered themselves to fall into this category which suggests were able to significantly engage with vulnerable and less well-off sections of the community. We invited the public to suggest and organise events in November 2021 and received a record 98 proposals, most of which we were able to support. This was a higher than expected level of public participation in the festival which resulted in more events than planned taking place in the 2022 programme. We also had a greater variety of events with more place-making events, exhibitions, music and discussions/workshop events compared to previous years.

dudes and divas entertainment

Dudes & Divas Entertainment Children's entertainment and party venue based in Glengormley. We do fully themed, fuss free parties, entertainment and have a sensory room.

max go

Max Kids Clubs Welcome to Max Go - we provide children and adults with experiences using the latest technology. From robots to Virtual Reality, we have something for all ages. We run our programmes in mainstream schools, special school, adult centres, nursing homes and more. Our latest programme is our Sensory VR Experiences, which have been a huge success in many special schools in Northern Ireland.

autism ni

Autism is lifelong and affects the social and communication centre of the brain. Autism affects the way an individual relates to people, situations and the immediate environment. Many individuals with autism have difficulty processing everyday sensory information like sight, smells, touch, tastes and sounds. Autism is a spectrum condition; it will affect people in different ways depending on the individual and varies from person to person.

music bugs north down

At Music Bugs North Down, we provide exciting sessions for children from birth to five where they can develop, grow and have fun in a multi-sensory environment. With a large variety of fantastic props such as puppets, parachutes, pom poms, floaty scarves and teddies. We will sing nursery rhymes, counting songs, finger play rhymes, knee bouncers and action songs and allow you and your child to relax, have fun together and make lots of new friends! We are also available for birthday parties, nursery and preschool sessions and mother and toddler groups.  Please book your space via https://bookwhen.com/musicbugsnorthdown