Hertfordshire-based Electric Umbrella Charity to take on The Smiley Charity Film Awards

Electric Umbrella is a UK charity where music unites people and creates a more inclusive society.

Their mission is celebrating difference and inspiring community connection, empowering learning disabled and neurodivergent people of all abilities. In a nutshell, their core belief is “There’s no such thing as normal”.

Acceptance is an original song, written and performed by Electric Umbrella. It is the first of seven music videos created to accompany the Electric Umbrella Express digital learning resources, designed to equip teachers with the tools to promote disability confidence to the next generation, compiled from work undertaken by members of Electric Umbrella and the children of Sarratt Church of England School.

Electric Umbrella’s ‘Acceptance’ video is especially timely with the International Day of Acceptance coming up on the 20th January 2025, a day of encouraging social acceptance of people and disabilities. The video is made by Sam Clifford, from the song written by Tom Billington & Electric Umbrella. It is now available to watch and can be voted for to win the world’s largest cause-based film award.

Since its inception seven years ago, the Charity Film Awards (CFAs) has supported over 5,000 charities and engaging almost 1 million individuals through voting. Its platform has generated an astounding 350 million film views, with over 2.7 million viewers tuning in to the 2024 virtual event.

Mel Boda, CEO of Electric Umbrella, comments: “It’s exciting to see our Acceptance video entered into the Smiley Charity Film Awards – the Oscars of charity film! It is a great achievement for us to be able to enter these awards and raise further awareness of our work and creative approach.

“We have been supporting learning disabled people for 10 years and annually reach around 40,000 students and teachers through our work with SEND and mainstream schools. What makes us different is that everything is delivered by our amazing learning-disabled crew members alongside our team of professional musicians.

"The video enables students and teachers to see our learning disabled rock stars deliver the songs, alongside children from Sarratt school, providing powerful visual cues and inspiration for activities and discussion to follow, while also being engaging and fun. So please make sure to vote for us on the Smiley Charity Film Awards website!”

To vote for Electric Umbrella’s ‘Acceptance’ music video in the Smiley Charity Film Awards, and to donate, visit https://smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/acceptance.

If a you have a learning disabled family member or friend, who may be interested in joining Electric Umbrella, or you would be interested in learning more about Electric Umbrella’s performances and workshops for schools or corporate performances and training programmes, more information is available at https://www.electricumbrella.org.uk