We couldn’t be more excited to be on the road again with performances of Down to Earth at Belgrave Hall in Leicester on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 May, before travelling up to Edinburgh to perform as part of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival!

It’s an honour to be the only live ‘in person’ show in this years festival, but there’s a fantastic online programme to join in and access anywhere in the world!

Thank to the festival producers: Imaginate, our hosts: Oaklands School and the Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust who are supporting our show in the Festival.

We’re delighted to have received vital funding from Arts Council England, the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

The funds, which total nearly £90K, will enable us to:

• Deliver more performances of our outdoor production of Down to Earth, in Leicester and in various locations throughout the UK. Especially for young audiences described as having profound and multiple learning disabilities.
• Create and tour a brand new, spectacular production into special schools – The Firebird. These funds will help us to realise our ambitions to create a truly spectacular and memorable experience.
• Bring more Front of House performances straight to families’ front doors – with opportunities for the whole street to enjoy a unique festival experience, right from their own garden.
• Create a whole new experience for families with children on the autistic spectrum: Bamboozle Backyard will bring together creativity with nature and the outdoors.
• Continue to evolve our offer for families though the autumn and beyond, whether that is though more opportunities to connect directly with Bamboozle artists online, or with more in-person experiences.
• Get ready for touring in Spring 2022, creating another new production.

Further information about all of these projects will be coming out over the next few weeks and months – be sure to sign up to our mailing lists to find out more.

Thank you to all the children, young people and families who have taken part in our projects recently. It is because of your passion and support for our work that we have been able to secure this funding, so that we can keep delivering for you!

Taylor Hobson, a Leicester company making ultra-precision technology, have made a significant boost to our fundraising income for the year, by donating almost £9,000 raised through their payroll giving scheme.

Taylor Hobson first donated to Bamboozle back in 2017, when Jain Burdett, the company’s Special Applications Project Leader, got in touch to let us know that we’d been selected as the beneficiary of the company’s payroll giving scheme.  We were delighted!

Jain found out about Bamboozle when researching local charities to support; “when we speak to our members who donate through the payroll giving scheme, they are always keen for donations to support local charities who make a difference to the lives of children and young people”.

We then benefitted again from the scheme in May 2018, with a further dotation in 2019 of £500 from Ian Lee-Bennett, Business Director at Taylor Hobson, who generously donated his fee for presenting at the annual conference of the Medical Science Liaison Association (MSLA).

We invited members of the Taylor Hobson team along to our Showcase performance of our show Storm which we presented at Curve in August 2019:

Jain went on to say “following our viewing of Storm, we were amazed at how the Bamboozle team engaged with each child individually throughout the show; with Arts organisations being particularly hit due to the Global pandemic, we couldn’t think of a more worthwhile cause to benefit from the payroll giving scheme”.

On returning to Bamboozle HQ in January, the team where astonished to have received a cheque for £8881, bringing the total donated by the company over the past four years to an amazing £14,527!

We’d like to send a huge thank you to all of the team at Taylor Hobson for helping to secure our 2021 Programme!

Inspired by Taylor Hobson’s gift?  Find out more about how you can support Bamboozle.