Moments to Connect
‍A programme of seven events across the country in 2023 that connected people and communities across divides to explore how events could contribute to social cohesion.

Moment to Movement
How do you turn the energy of a
single event into a lasting legacy of community cohesion? The Jo Cox Foundation reflected on findings from their Great Get Together events and More In Common campaign in terms of how to turn one-off events into lasting, stronger communities.

Seizing the Moment
British Future’s report looked at how events – especially those around national traditions and heritage – could bridge divides between people and strengthen shared identities.

Moments That Make Us Proud
In their national polling, Public First found widespread support for events as a source of national pride across the UK. People of all ages and backgrounds broadly agreed that events made them proud to live in the UK.

EVENTS THAT BUILD SOCIAL COHESION

Embedding and evaluating wellbeing in your projects
With over a decade of experience funding and supporting wellbeing-focused initiatives, we gathered our insights and resources so you, too, can integrate these principles into your work.

Renaisi evaluation
One of our independent learning partners between 2019 and 2023, Renaisi looked at the impact Spirit’s investment had on wellbeing.

“Being on Spirit of 2012’s Youth Panel gave me a rich insight into who wasn't engaged in the power of arts, culture and sport, and how we reach those people in the UK. The panel was given decision-making power, and having that opportunity and autonomy at that age is really important. But it’s also rare for young people to be trusted in that way, which is why the experience was so transformative. Today, I work with young disabled people, giving them access to sporting opportunities.”

– Sophie Humphries, former member of Spirit of 2012’s Youth Panel

"As the Chair of the Youth Panel, I was able to develop my leadership skills, confidence and communication skills that played a big part in me going on to found my social enterprise, 2–3 Degrees, which supports young people in the ‘forgotten middle’ to fulfil their potential. For me, that is probably the biggest legacy I take from it – that we were able to give opportunities to young people who wouldn't usually get them, and directly influence them in terms of their education and career decisions. My experience on the youth panel gave birth to a desire to do more of it."

- Carl Konadu, former chair of Spirit of 2012’s Youth Panel, BEM

Designing Inclusive Events Starter Pack
Summary of our research and practical tips to help event planners ensure their events are welcoming to everyone and include people at every stage.

Making Events Work for Everyone
Report summarising learning from our funded projects around the topic of disability inclusion with advice and recommendations for how UK events can be designed and delivered to be more inclusive – and how they can help foster a more inclusive society.

Playbook for Equality Diversity and Inclusion
(Centre for Culture, Sport and Events)A four-step guide to help you embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in events from the outset.

Volunteering Together:
Inclusive Volunteering and Disabled People (Kim Donahue and Associates)

“Spirit has been a really brave funder in terms of how they've engaged with diverse, community-led voices during their decision making. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to some of their youth panel, their trustees, and some of the working groups around, for example, disability and inclusion. All those voices were baked into the funding decisions, as well as into the communities that then went on to benefit from the funded programmes. 

What Spirit and other organisations have done is convened different sectors and made them talk to each other. Whether people are from arts, sport, academia, events – there is more of a shared language now, so their dialogue is even more powerful.” access to sporting opportunities.”

– Dr Verity Postlethwaite, Lecturer in Strategic Event Management, University of Loughborough

“People come together to celebrate. They come together to watch excellent sportspeople and to watch artists. And, when they do so, they have shared experiences, develop memories, and are reminded that where they live is an inclusive place. That’s why sport has always had a cultural element to it, because it’s about the power of togetherness. 

The more that we blend sport and cultural events together, the more it makes sense – and Spirit has focused on these commonalities and crossed those boundaries so we can take learnings on board when we start to think about events in the future.”

– Jonothan Neelands, Professor of Creative Education, University of Warwick