Groundswell Arts has a strong belief that parents and carers are children’s foremost educators and much of our work focuses on inclusion of parents and carers and the wider family.

In The Lullaby Project, Groundswell has created a programme over the past 7 years that works with families to create bespoke songs for children. The project catalyses a unique approach to songwriting to enhances attachment between parents/carers and their children and between educators and families.
A report about the impact of the Lullabies Project was produced in 2014 by Jonathan Barnes and many of the outcomes proved the programme strengthened bonds between parents and carers and their children we are working towards a follow up report as many families are still listening to the songs years after having had them created.  Funded by Youth Music our team of freelance musicians are currently delivering this programme in a number of schools, nurseries, children’s centres and private sector settings.

Groundswell Arts also presents a Sunday afternoon event held at Woodlands Park Children’s Centre and Nursery School aimed at families with young children 0-7 years of age we have experienced a range of performances and interactive workshops facilitated by professional musicians.
Themes for these events have included ; Irish Music, Chinese New Year, Black History, Making instruments , Jazz. Families come together to celebrate over music , tea and coffee in this inclusive free event.

Dancing together was a project that took place in 2017 at Woodlands Park Children’s Centre and Nursery School, and Rowland Hill Nursery and Children’s Centre. Families attended Saturday workshops and worked with artists David Leahy ( movement and double bass) and Angeline Conaghan ( voice and music ) The project focused on working together as a group and using music, and movement and relevant early years pedagogy and theory to explore the benefits of dancing and singing together for the wellbeing of the whole family. Children attended with parents, siblings and on occasion extended family members and many families built relationships with each other as a result of taking part in the project. The project was funded by Sound Connections as part of a strand called ‘Innovate’.

Storylab was funded by the NPPB ( Northumberland Park Partnership board) Families from this ward came together at Pembury House Children’s Centre and Nursery School to create films over a series of weekly and weekend workshops parents learned techniques of green screen filming and animation and children alongside their parents created short films. Families enjoyed working together with many saying the were keen to keep doing it at home!