Our Big Review of the Year - 2023!

Last year saw us turn 40 and this year saw us enter our 40’s in true AAM style. Looking back on 2023, we’re proud of another belter of a year! We’ve celebrated new groups, supported new participants and embraced new iMUSE technology. 

Our impact

We asked the people who take part in our group projects to let us know about the difference taking part has made to them over the past year. 

This is what they told us:

• 100% said that taking part in our sessions had made them feel happy
• 97% said taking part has helped them feel more confident
• 97% said they feel they have a say in what happens in sessions
• 92% said taking part helps them feel connected to friends
• 89% said taking part has helped them get better at communicating

We also asked the people who take part in our group projects to tell us three words that describe AAM.  Here’s a lovely word cloud that we made from their responses:

For more on the difference we make and our 2022/2023 Impact Report, head here.

A year of AAM-azing performances and parties

We had our Super Social Showcase, where participants showcased what they’d been up to in their projects in front of friends and family. It was great to see everyone socialising and having fun, so much so, we’re already planning another one!

For the King’s Coronation, participants partied together at their Tea Party fit for a King. It was loads of fun! We dressed up in fancy dress, ate loads of yummy cake and made beautiful bunting. 

Our last gig of the year was our ‘Can we ceilidh? Yes, we can!’ gig where we focussed on socialising and having a good time. Our participants got up and performed, and smashed it of course, before everyone, including the audience, got together to dance.

Fuelled by tea and cake from the Social and Events team, the day was a huge success. We loved it so much, that there are plans for another event like this in the pipeline - so watch this space! 

A year of community legends 

The local community has come together and have been absolute legends when helping AAM fundraise this year. Supermarket Community Champions from Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose have let us busk, collect money and put us forward for funding opportunities. The support has been AAM-azing. It’s allowed us to get back out there and reconnect with the public after lockdown, which we’ve really missed!  

Community Fundraising Coordinator Lauren got an incredible response from a raffle prize callout. Loads of wonderful small, local businesses and family and friends reached out, wanting to help. We were truly overwhelmed and thanks to them, our ceilidh and raffle raised £840!

The year wouldn’t be complete without Big Ian and his crew bringing together lots of incredible acts for A Night to Remember. Hands & Voices were invited to perform again and brought the house down with their ABBA medley - they rocked! 

We were thrilled to be one of the chosen charities to benefit from the night, with a total of £5,000 being donated to Hands & Voices. 

Watch them raise the roof with their performance below:

From Lauren’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed quiz to JNJS’s Classic Soul night and Denise’s big birthday bash, there’s been a bunch of creativity when it comes to raising money. We’ve seen more home collection tins go out the door this year too!

No idea is too far out – we’ve had wing walkers in the past –and we’re keen to hear from anyone who wants to be our next fundraising hero. Find out how here. 

Exciting new groups

Our participants wanted to have more of a say in events and social activities at AAM, so this year we created the Social and Events group. The group, made up of participants and volunteers, got straight to work on fundraising ideas. Their first event was a cake stall at our ‘Can we ceilidh? Yes, we can!’ gig.

Participants worked out a kitchen rota, made tea and coffee and arranged for cakes to be made and sold. They did a fab job taking the lead and raised an incredible £239 – an AAM-azing total for their first event. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next! 

Thanks to funding from Make It York’s Cultural Wellbeing grants, our Movers & Shakers project was able to expand to two sessions on a Wednesday afternoon. The project, for adults with complex disabilities, was getting very popular and had a waiting list, so we were thrilled to be able to expand. 

Movers and Shakers made a huge impression performing a last year’s Big Birthday Bash. We were keen to see them shine on stage again, and we thought it was about time they had their own logo and t-shirts so they look the part. A huge thanks to Leeds-based design studio Saul Studio for the design and Kitlocker for providing the shirts free of charge – we love them! Now the group can look ace on and off the stage.

iMUSE for Wellbeing, for all

It’s been a big year for iMUSE. We’ve seen our Wednesday slots fill up fast, meaning we’ve extended our hours to 9.30am – 6.30pm. We’ve seen innovation from iMUSE participant Paul, who created our vibrating Hugger. He’s created a wearable piece of kit that replicates the feeling of touch and to ease the symptoms of stress and anxiety. 

His input has been instrumental in developing the iMUSE programme and we can’t wait to see what he designs next. 

We love sharing our multisensory therapeutic iMUSE experience with so many people, helping them relax and reduce the symptoms of anxiety and the stresses of the outside world. 

We’ve had fantastic feedback from social prescribers and partner events. We’ve seen loads of new faces via drop-in sessions with Dementia Forward and IMPs Holiday Clubs, showing that iMUSE can be adapted for anyone.

Don’t just take our word for it, here’s what some of our participants had to say: 

“It really has helped break down the wall that I've had before. I feel more confident talking to people now - I'm a shy person”

“It relaxes my whole body and gets rid of tension and I sleep really well after a session”

If you’re interested or know someone who might benefit from using iMUSE, get in touch. We’re offering FREE taster sessions to anyone who’d like to experience iMUSE for themselves. Find out the benefits of iMUSE and book your place here.

Experts lead the way 

IMPs and Hands & Voices trainees have had a fab year of leading communication and music workshops in and around York. Experts in their fields, they’ve shown incredible confidence and done themselves proud. Our favourite of this year’s workshops has to be the City of York Council SEND conference in November.

IMPs trainee superstars Ben and Dan taught the audience how to sing and sign a new song and wowed them with their confidence. When asked about what they like about IMPs, Ben responded with a quote that we think really sums IMPs up, saying: 

‘Everyone’s really happy and everyone’s always IMP-ing about’

Here’s to more IMP-ing, music-making and fabulously fun workshops! 

Well, it’s just about time to wrap up this review of the year. And what a wonderful year it’s been. Before we do, we want to give a huge thank you to our fabulous participants, supporters, funders, trustees, volunteers, staff, family, and friends who’ve supported AAM throughout the year.  

Keep your eyes peeled for some exciting news that we’ll be sharing in the new year. Until then, here’s to an AAM-azing 2024!