What does Fantastic work for Families look like? Reflecting on our 2025 Awards

We heard about lots of activities that employ co-creation or collaboration with children and families, offering genuine opportunities to shape work.

We saw some excellent examples of co-creation and collaboration in our Finalists’ Case Studies including from Junction Goole and The Hepworth Wakefield.

Junction Goole’s Takeover Festival was curated by primary school pupils as Young Producers, programming two days packed full of inclusive performances, workshops, and activities for their community. After choosing a theme, the Young Producers discussed their target audience asking: “What does a family look like?” to ensure inclusivity and relevance to their own lives. You can find out more about Takeover Festival and the co-creation here.

The Hepworth Wakefield’s Surreal Landscapes Family Programme invited children and families to choose the artworks for their surrealist exhibition, and design accompanying trails, workshops and hands-on gallery experiences to bring art to life. You can find out more about this Award Winning project here, a project that helped families feel genuinely valued. 

We read about many activities designed to be inclusive of families with children who have diverse access needs, such as d/Deaf children, wheelchair users, or neurodivergent children. These approaches ranged from programmes specifically created for these families, to adaptations that made activities more accessible for everyone, such as offering BSL interpretation. We also noted that sensory elements were frequently incorporated to support a wide range of needs. 

Brilliant examples of inclusivity can be seen across our Finalist Case Studies, including Bamboozle Theatre’s sessions for autistic children and their families, and Arts Trust Productions inclusive considerations and commitment to welcoming different age groups.

Bamboozle Theatre’s The Backyard Wilding Sessions provided an oasis of calm and creativity in a community garden on an allotment site. Specifically designed for autistic children and young people and their families, the welcoming sessions offered a place to escape the pressures of modern life and to take a breath. You can find out more about The Backyard Wilding Sessions here.

Arts Trust Productions’ Summer in the Park was a cross-generational festival bringing communities together through free outdoor activities in local parks. The event encouraged people to connect across age groups, from toddlers dancing with grandparents to teens learning to skate alongside parents. The spaces were sensory-friendly, and had free equipment and inclusive signage to reduce barriers. You can find out more about Summer in the Park here.

A lot of organisations are focusing on activities for Early Years families, targeted at young children and supporting parents by combatting isolation and offering relaxed performances. Some applicants provided settings or play scenarios that families are perhaps not aware of or cannot easily recreate at home, such as messy play.

National Musuems Liverpool delivered Baby Week, a cross-venue programme for babies and their parents and carers, delivered with service providers to promote women’s health, combat health inequity, build community, and support developmental milestones. Events take place on-gallery, offering facilitated sessions that encourage speech, play, and social skills. Families can stomp and move, explore textures, or sing and make noise.

We saw cultural providers supporting low-income families by offering free or reduced tickets, food or ancillary services. These efforts help remove barriers to participation, ensuring that families from diverse economic backgrounds can engage with cultural experiences and benefit from the social, educational, and recreational opportunities they provide.

Tuneful Chatter is a free weekly programme offering music, movement, drama and storytelling for children aged 0–5 and their families in Doncaster, with a strong focus on supporting low-income communities. Delivered in accessible local settings, sessions are designed to build young children’s communication, language, and social development while empowering parents, carers, and early years practitioners to use creativity at home and in their work. By meeting families in areas of highest socio-economic deprivation, the programme helps reduce barriers to access and supports children to thrive from early childhood onward.

We heard about activities and programmes for people with neurological conditions like Dementia or Parkinsons and their carers. These projects tend to involve people as participants; however, one project also started to involve older people professionally.

We were pleased to share two brilliant examples of neurological inclusion amongst our Finalist Case Studies from Ascendance and Women Over Fifty Film Festival.
 

Signature Moves by Ascendance is a programme empowering artists aged 60+ with Parkinson’s and neurological conditions. This UK-first initiative challenges ageism in the creative industries by developing participants as professional choreographers and teachers rather than just recreational participants. You can find out more about the Award Winning Signature Moves here.

WOFFF x Virgin Atlantic Dementia Friendly Cinema by Women Over Fifty Film Festival was a collaboration creating the world’s first dementia-friendly inflight film collection. You can find out more about the collection here, which offers soothing, visually engaging short films that make air travel calmer and more inclusive for older passengers and their families. 

We saw projects that utilise arts for mental health, physical health (e.g. fall support) and physical expression (e.g. dance for people with Parkinson’s). The NHS 5 steps to Wellbeing are mentioned frequently.
 

Our Awards Finalist The Octagon Theatre programme Parkinson’s Dance is a fantastic example of this. Their dance programme for older adults with Parkinson’s disease combined creative movement, music, and science to enhance mobility, confidence, wellbeing, and social connection in a supportive, welcoming environment. You can find out more about their Parkinson’s Dance here. 

We heard about projects that address loneliness and engage with people who are excluded because of disability or age.  
 
Our Awards Finalist Goofus Theatre brought young children and older adults together in their project Intergenerational Reach Magic – including those living with dementia – to share non-verbal theatre and creative play. You can find out more about the project here. 

We found multiple applications focused on celebrating cultural heritage. These focused on welcoming people through cultural practices they have been familiar with throughout their lives. Conversely, some projects also served to introduce people to new cultures through creative practice. 

Awards Finalist Akademi is a brilliant example of this with their inclusive, creative dance programme Dance Well. Using South Asian movement and music to enhance physical health, wellbeing, and social connection for older adults, the programme offers an enjoyable, accessible alternative to traditional exercise and celebrates cultural engagement and community. You can find out more about Dance Well here. 

We heard about projects for and with people who are refugees, asylum seekers or who have newly arrived. The goal is to foster trust, connections and belonging for sanctuary-seeking families.
 

Our Awards Finalist Case Studies from Theatre Porto and Norwich Theatre include some brilliant examples of this.

Theatre Porto’s Sanctuary Programme is an evolving, inclusive programme designed to engage families seeking sanctuary in Ellesmere Port, combining performances, supported visits, workshops, and food-based gatherings. Through this work they have become the country’s first children’s theatre to be awarded Theatre of Sanctuary Status. You can find out more about their Programme here.

Norwich Theatre’s Cultural Music Celebrations is a collaborative, co-designed programme where sanctuary-seeking families and children in Norwich and Norfolk celebrated culture, music, and community, creating safe, joyful, intergenerational experiences that foster trust, connection, and wellbeing. You can find out more about their Programme here. 

We noticed our Audience Impact & Innovation applications included focusing on activities for LGBTQ+ families and families that foster or adopt. 
 
Award Finalists National Maritime Museum and Seaglass Collective’s project is a brilliant example of this. Their project Message in A bottle was a creative exchange uniting foster and adoptive families through collaborative textile art, fostering connection, confidence, and joy across London and Yorkshire, demonstrating the power of trauma-informed, creative practice to build belonging and wellbeing. You can find out more about the creative exchange here. 

We saw projects with very specific Neurodiversity and Disability inclusion, co-creation or access provision. 

Awards Finalist Oily Cart’s Flexible Programme When the World Turns is an excellent example of this. This sensory theatre experience was offered in three inclusive formats for families to explore and enjoy at their own pace – including a full show, an experience for babies, and an At-Home version. You can find out more about their programme here. 

If you would like to apply for the next Fantastic for Families awards, please follow our newsletter for more information and updates on the next application window in Summer 2026. 

We were pleased to see over half of our applications were from diverse-led organisations, and we’d welcome even more next year. 

Although projects that specifically catered for LGBTQ families were present in 2025 applications, they were mostly seen in the Audience Impact and Innovation category. We’d love to see more in our ‘Best Family Arts Activities’ and ‘Best Age-Friendly Initiatives’ Categories.

We continue to welcome applications from across the UK, and we’d love to see more from the areas we saw the lowest from this year: West Midlands, Scotland and East of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.