Umbrella academy

Changing perceptions of learning disability through music, Electric Umbrella reacted to the pandemic by reaching out to a whole new audience

- Caroline Thain

A colourful bunch of inspiring, innovative and inclusive musicians are helping to change perceptions of disability through their ‘yellow blood’.

It was five years ago that Electric Umbrella was established as a charity in south-west Hertfordshire, using music to enrich and empower the lives of people with learning disabilities. But the story begins earlier, in 2013, when musician Tom Billington and art therapist Melanie Boda recognised a lack of opportunity for adults with learning disabilities to express who they really are. Drawing on their extensive experience of community arts, the professional world of entertainment and supporting disabled adults, the project grew organically from weekly workshops and small shows, raising small amounts of money through crowdfunding campaigns and busking.

But Electric Umbrella is way more than music – it strives to provide purpose and a sense of worth, togetherness and belonging to what the charity describes as ‘some of society’s most misrepresented people’. It uses professional musicians and specially-adapted instruments and a collaborative approach, working inclusively with service users. The result is that Electric Umbrella is an exciting movement which seeks, and manages, to challenge perceptions of people with learning disabilities, while supporting them to make music and help reduce social isolation.

The aim has never been more relevant than it is now. In normal times – although ‘there’s no such thing as normal’, as one of the group’s self-penned songs goes – the charity serves 60 people across three groups in Rickmansworth, Watford and Hemel Hempstead. There’s also a 100-strong Big Yellow Choir in Abbots Langley.