The Big Bedtime Audit found that at 8.30pm on a typical Friday evening, 69% of people with learning disabilities were either in bed or ready for bed. Only 7% regularly went out to socialise. A survey by Mencap also found that 30% of 18-35yr olds with a learning disability spend less than 1 hour a day outside their homes on a typical Saturday. This is the social inequality that Thera Trust aim to address head on. Our Gig Buddies projects tackle these issues in many ways, but today we want to focus on how we provide people with more choice and social opportunities.
Kevin, a parent of a Gig Buddies member said:
Gigs are better through Gig Buddies because they are accessible in all aspects.
This all starts with people in the Gig Buddies community and our staff, identifying venues, promotors, events/arts organisations, and checking out gig listings. We then reach out to people within those spaces and start to develop meaningful relationships with that space or organisation, going along in small groups to gigs, and getting out to ordinary social spaces, like the pub for a meal and a drink. Over time, our community of Gig Buddies community partnerships has grown to a varied collection of venues and organisations; from grass-roots indie venues, to the biggest arts festival on the planet, who now annually support us with over £20,000 worth of in-a kind donations. In short, this means lots of opportunities, for lots of people.
These offers of free tickets for our members are fantastic, as we know that one of the barriers faced for our members, and anyone who has additional support needs is a financial one. They often need to buy at least two tickets, having to pay for their support, with some people needing to buy three or more tickets to cover their, support needs. This can make buying tickets to events unaffordable, and financially inaccessible for many of our members. Many aren’t in employment and rely on benefits or family support to cover their daily living expenses, so there just isn’t enough money left over to pay for social events.
– Disabled people in employment review. (March 2024)
– The Buckland Review of Autism Employment: report and recommendations (Feb 2024)
We also noticed that even though we share information about our community partners and how to get tickets to shows of their choice with our members, the offers were not being taken up. This highlighted yet another barrier to our members when it comes to having better social lives, issues around choosing and planning events/gigs to get out to. To combat this, in addition to our regular monthly social events in the community, every month we now search through our project partners event listings and choose a variety of events, contact our project partners to secure tickets and these specific events out to our members. Gig Buddies staff are not at these events; these offers are for our members and volunteers to get out as a Gig Buddies pair, or for our members to get out to with their friends or social support. We send the offers out by email, and members can put their names forwards to enter a lottery draw for the tickets, and we draw the names for each gig on a weekly basis. Since starting this, we have seen a big difference in the opportunities being taken up by our members.
A Gig Buddies with Thera Trust member said:
It has changed my life to go out more and choose what I go to.
This year alone, from January to June 2025 we have been able to offer our members over 116 tickets to some fantastic gigs. This means we have been able to offer our members and volunteers even more opportunities than ever before to get out to gigs. This year we have already given away tickets for Toots and The Maytals, Hamish Hawk, Zutons, Roger Daltrey, Olly Murs, Wet Leg, and more, with opportunities to see Pulp, Sting, Simple Minds, Stereophonics, and more still come!
86% of our members agree that Gig Buddies gives them the opportunity to get out more to different places. 87% say that Gig Buddies has introduced them to new events or venues.
In December 2024, through our partnership with Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, we were able to give away 80 tickets to the local pantomime. This enabled our members, as well as their families to get out and enjoy the festivities without the financial barrier of buying tickets.
A parent of a Gig Buddies West Lothian member said:
Thank you so much…definitely something fun to kick of the Christmas Season!
We’re also getting feedback from our members that they’ve discovered whole new interests through the opportunities they’ve taken with Gig Buddies.
In December 2024, Harry won our lottery draw to go and see Home Alone in concert, by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. It was the first time Harry had ever been to a classical concert, and through this experience he has discovered a whole new interest.
Harry said:
Tonight, I attended Home Alone Live at the Usher Hall thanks to tickets given to us by Gig Buddies. I had never attended a concert like this before and I was really excited. It was also the first time I had heard a live orchestra and choir. It was an amazing experience, it’s one of my favourite Christmas films and the music was spectacular. Thank you so much!
Harry has since got tickets to see a classical matinee concert and plans to see a whole lot more in 2025, and beyond.
Harry’s mum said:
Since we went to Home Alone Live, Harry has found a great passion for orchestral music!
We love to introduce new experiences to our members, and this demonstrates how important the work we do is, and we are so grateful to have fantastic project partners like RSNO, who kindly offer us free tickets to share with our members to have these experiences!
We want to share a huge thanks with all the wonderful venues and organisations supporting Thera Trust’s Gig Buddies projects, with all of their incredible offers of social opportunities. Keep an eye out over the next few months for some more longer reads on how we engage with some of our festival partners!
If you wish to support this initiative, your support is greatly appreciated and you can donate here