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Project Creative Connection brings together disabled and non-disabled students to collaborate, create and connect through music.
This year, students from Loreto High School, Chatsworth High School, Grange School and New Park Academy have been working with Create’s team of professional musicians: Matt Dunn, Holly Marland, Hannah McCabe and Bethan Roberts.
They have been working together to write and rehearse original compositions inspired by Manchester Literature Festival’s 2025 theme: ‘Celebrate!’.
Each pair of schools (Grange/Loreto; Chatsworth/New Park) has created its own musical pieces, and together they have co-written a unifying group song.
The final performance on Friday 24th October at Manchester Central Library will be a joyful, shared celebration of self-expression, collaboration and creativity, which also celebrates the culmination of ‘creative:connection’. This is an inclusive project led by national creative arts charity Create.
Create – bringing people together through music
Create is the UK’s leading empowering lives, reducing isolation and enhancing wellbeing through the creative arts.
Creative:connection rehearsal
A national charity that champions local priorities, Create partners with local community organisations to run high-quality creative projects for their service users.
It has a hub in Manchester, which reaches out to communities across the North West. Spanning across 22 different art forms, Create projects are led by professional artists who deliver visual arts to filmmaking, jewellery-making to music.
They run on a mission to build upon connections that inspire, empower and connect young people through the arts. All whilst being an inclusive and safe space for anyone to express themselves creatively.
How music can bring people together
Founding Chief Executive of Creative, Nicky Goulder told the I Love Manchester team about how passionate she is about connecting people through the power of music.
She told us: “Before I founded Create, I worked in orchestras for many years, so I’ve always known the incredible power of music. It transcends language; for participants who may be nonverbal, it’s incredibly powerful because it allows them to express a wide range of emotions, from joy and excitement to sadness.
“When we bring young people together, each with different life experiences, and they work alongside our professional musicians to create something original and beautiful, they’re also developing teamwork and communication skills.
“For some of the children involved, who are nonverbal, we use sign language to ensure everyone can participate fully. Everyone gets a chance to play different instruments, so it’s expressive, collaborative, and joyful. “
Create is 22 years old this year, and it has held the legacy of using the creative arts to empower, up-skill, and enhance the well-being of disadvantaged and vulnerable children across the UK.
All of their projects are led by professionals, and each project is designed to meet the specific needs of the group they’re working with at that time.
The ‘Creative:connection’ project
The Create:connection project has been running in Manchester and Salford for 10 years now. It’s designed to bring together four schools: three SEND schools and one mainstream, working as pairs and celebrating through the power of community.
The intention behind building an inclusive and collaborative event like this is to grow empathy and understanding of all types of people in different scenarios.
Some of the students on the creative:connection project
“This project focuses not on disability but on creating new music together. Through that process, the children’s confidence grows enormously”
Nicky told us: “When you bring together a mainstream school and a special needs school, many of the children are meeting peers with very different life experiences.
“Often, special needs students mainly mix with other special needs students, and mainstream pupils rarely have the opportunity to work inclusively.”
This project focuses not on disability but on creating new music together. Through that process, the children’s confidence grows enormously.
Nicky continued: “I saw one young person who initially said they wouldn’t perform, and today they’re here on stage. Another student has been so excited that every day this week she’s waited outside the classroom ten minutes before the session started.”
Nicky explained how she has witnessed young people collaborating, listening to one another and celebrating their achievements. Sharing an understanding of one another, which naturally creates empathy.
This allows the children to see what others can do, regardless of any differences they may have.
How do we include everyone in learning environments?
The single most important thing they have ensured they’ve done at Create is to ensure inclusion. To achieve this, they make all of their projects free to everyone, as they’re aware that often the biggest challenge people face is financial.
In order to make all projects free to join, Create raises funding so that children and adults facing the biggest challenges can access high-quality creative opportunities.
Nicky Goulder also told I Love MCR how they are always making sure to consider accessibility. She said: We always think carefully about accessibility, both physical and emotional.
“Spaces must be safe, welcoming, warm, and comfortable. We usually work within participants’ own schools or community settings to ensure accessibility.
“For the performance at Manchester Central Library, as part of the Literature Festival, we worked closely with the venue to make sure it’s fully inclusive. We also use specialist equipment suited to participants’ different needs.”
Influencing the future of inclusive arts
Another core belief at the centre of Create is that everyone should have the opportunity to be creative.
They focus on those who are most disadvantaged, vulnerable, or excluded, as they know that creativity is essential for everyone’s wellbeing, connection, and confidence. They’re hopeful to demonstrate the power of creativity to support skills, wellbeing and inclusion.
Create charity music session
Nicky added the importance of giving everyone a voice: “We’ve seen the arts increasingly squeezed out of schools and universities, and that’s deeply worrying. We need to shift from focusing solely on STEM to embracing STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths, because the arts are vital.
“The more we can demonstrate the power of creativity to support skills, wellbeing, and inclusion, the stronger the case for ensuring access to it for all. Our programmes are underpinned by the NHS’s Five Ways to Wellbeing, and we know the arts make people feel better and give them a voice.”
Creating a music workshop leader
Matt Dunn is a professional musician and one of Create’s music workshop leaders for over 10 years. He shared his inspiring experience of working at an inclusive arts event.
He explained that every time he works on this project, it surprises him each time with the talent and connection through the power of music.
Matt told us: “Every time it’s amazing to see what the students achieve in just a week. For the last five or six years, we’ve performed here at Manchester Central Library as part of the Literature Festival.
“It’s brilliant because the young people get to perform outside of school, in a public venue. It’s a big event, and very exciting for them.”
The challenges of teaching music
Matt said being a teacher, you often have to adapt. This could be a wide variety of talents, skills and creativity among people. Expressing that this helps him to think more deeply as to what and how he is teaching.
“During breaks, he even taught himself to play a piece of music he liked on his own. That was amazing to see”
Matt shared a standout experience with the young people who are part of the project: One boy from Grange School was playing the glockenspiel. I don’t think he had much experience before this week, but he worked out a part to play along with me.
“Then, as the week went on, he started changing his part himself to make it sound better, without my prompting him. During breaks, he even taught himself to play a piece of music he liked on his own. That was amazing to see.”
Guiding students to express creativity
The creative workshop leader’s role is to guide the young people rather than instruct them. To help shape their ideas instead of telling them what to do.
In his role as creative leader, Matt encourages the young people to put their musical ideas into action. He added: “Some groups are full of ideas, so I just encourage them and help put everything together.
“Others might be more reserved or unsure, so I’ll make gentle suggestions to get things started, but I still let them experiment and make choices. We always try to ensure the ideas come from the students. I’m just there to help structure and support what they create.”
How did the students find the Create project?
One of the participating students, Amelia from New Park Academy, said: “It’s been very exciting to give other people opportunities that they don’t have in life. It was very fun. I enjoyed getting to participate with another school, getting to meet new people, and getting to understand a different perspective of life.
“We’ve been making a song. Me and Blake are singing a song ourselves and then we made a big song in celebration, a Halloween song, all together.”
Amelia also wrote the lyrics for the song she performed with her friend Blake. She said that her confidence has grown from being a part of the project: “I used to be scared a lot to go and sing up on stage and now I just feel like if they don’t like it then that’s tough.”
When asked how she would describe the project in three words, Amelia said: “Exciting, fun, and involving.”
How to get involved with Create?
Getting involved in this kind of work can be very beneficial, to help create and build skills in all types of arts, with all types of people.
Matt said: “If you’ve never done this kind of work before, I’d say try to volunteer or observe first. Get experience in different environments and connect with organisations like Create, they have programmes such as the Nurturing Talent: Young Artist Programme that support artists who want to develop in this area.”
If you reach out to organisations that do inclusive arts work, ask if you can shadow, assist, or train with them.
Matt also said, “That experience is invaluable, and it also makes it easier for organisations to bring you on board later because they’ll know you understand the environment. You can also look for opportunities in local schools or community projects, any way to gain experience and build your confidence. Just get involved and learn as much as you can.”
How you can donate to Create
To find out more about Create charity, click here.
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