Talk given by Paul Richards at the Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity in Hawaii, 2016. Looking at the way that Stay Up Late's Gig Buddies project is enabling natural friendships to be created for marginalised people so they can be active at the heart of their community.

2. Paul Richards
Director
@heavy_load
 paul@stayuplate.org
‘promoting full and active social lives for
people with learning disabilities’
www.stayuplate.org

5. Sunset in Brighton by Joao Paulo Fernandes licensed under CC BY 2.0

6. Brighton Pavilion by Tomas Maltby licensed under CC BY 2.0

7. Hove seafront looking east by ephemerol licensed under CC BY 2.0

8. Untitled by Mike Hellers licensed under CC BY 2.0

9. The Seven Sisters, Sussex, England, UK by weesam2010 licensed under CC BY 2.0

10. righton Pride 2009 – 157 by Tom Coady licensed under CC BY 2.0

11. How our charity started

15. Family
Close friends
Shared interests
Paid to be in your life
People you
Know but
not by name

16. Family
Paid to be in your life
People you
Know but
not by name

17. Gig Buddies is a volunteer
befriending project that seeks to
build community capacity by
enabling people with shared
interests to connect, working in an
assets based way.
The focus is promoting positive
physical and mental well-being for
the individuals involved, as well as
collectively for the wider
community. Blah, blah, blah…!

18. Gig Buddies is a volunteer
befriending project that seeks to
build community capacity by
enabling people with shared
interests to connect, working in an
assets based way.
The focus is promoting positive
physical and mental well-being for
the individuals involved, as well as
collectively for the wider
community. Blah, blah, blah…!

19. How Gig Buddies works

20. Gig Buddies
Volunteering Made Easier

21. You can call them Al by NMK Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0

22. (Learning Disability Coalition 2010)
1.4M people in UK
47% spend most time at home
51% say they feel lonely
64% don’t see their friends
You can call them Al by NMK Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0

23. eakfast by bob walker is licensed under CC BY 2.0

24. Ashtray by Thomas is licensed under CC BY 2.0

25. “The most terrible
poverty is loneliness,
and the feeling of
being unloved”
Mother Teresa
His24-Mother Teresa by Ludie Cochrane is licensed under CC BY 2.0

26. What’s getting in the way?
• Need support
• Community safety
• Confidence/motivation
• No-one to go with
• What’s on?
• Transport

27. 27
Metal Brotherhood by Alessandro Amodio is licensed under CC BY 2.0

28. 28

29. 29
The Flaming Lips @ The Palace Theatre by remixyourface is licensed under CC BY 2.0

30. The Storm and Thunder Team

32. 70+ pairs of buddies
700+ gigs and events
11 Festivals
68% of volunteers didn’t have friend with learning disability
48% are new to volunteering
Evaluation report

33. Recruiting volunteers
Drumkit by The Missing Sticks
is licensed under CC BY 2.0

34. Recruiting volunteers
Social
media
6%
Adverts &
Magazines
13%
Pubs & Venues
17%
Friends &
Volunteers
21%
Online
11%
Other
organisations
17%
Our events &
stands
15%
Drumkit by The Missing Sticks
is licensed under CC BY 2.0

38. The Contiguous United States
Visualized by distance to the nearest McDonald’s
Created by Stephen Von Worley
http://www.weathersealed.com/tags/maps/
Location data courtesy of AggData
http://www.aggdata.com/
McDistance from a McDonalds, created by Stephen Von Worley at datapointed.net
by Duncan Hull is licensed under CC BY 2.0

39. Paul Richards
Director
@heavy_load
 paul@stayuplate.org
‘promoting full and active social lives for
people with learning disabilities’
www.stayuplate.org