Purpose: Exim Dance's mission is to improve people's lives through dance. Our vision is to raise aspirations, celebrating and championing underrepresented and undervalued communities; through a person centred approach we seek to unite people using creativity to achieve life changing positive outcomes.
Exim plays a vital role in supporting Plymouth’s cultural and community scene. We do this through our own work and through working in cross-sector partnerships with others at a local, regional and national level.
We champion community cohesion. The company works both as a youth referral & social prescribing service.
‘When I think of all the good that Exim does, I sometimes forget that you’re a dance company. You do so much more'. - Parent of a weekly participant.
Why the community needs us:
Exim's community dance wellbeing programmes are sited in communities of low cultural engagement and economic deprivation and are operating as an effective early intervention, reducing more Plymouth residents reaching crisis point. The beneficiaries of our services are young people, families and at-risk adults. Our work supports progression into further education, training opportunities and employment and many other positive outcomes; centring around our core value that anyone who wants to do something can do it. No matter their background or whether they are disabled. We support those on low income by offering our services for free.
Our impact on the community:
Exim Dance mindfully focuses and responds to Plymouth’s priorities and needs around the city's health inequalities, supporting those most at risk and in need. The knowledge the young people gain from working with us will help bridge the gap between young people and the arts, as well as hopefully inspire them to think positively about higher education and employability. It gives them transferable skills that can be used in their everyday life. Exim has a strong track record of helping and developing young people assisting them through leadership qualifications, college & university auditions. Encouraging independence & building on social skills
Service-users that accessed Exim services stated the following positive impact throughout 2021:
- 79% of participants said our sessions improved their physical health
- 75% of participants said they enjoyed our sessions
- 70% of participants said they had learnt something new from our sessions
- 67% of participants said our sessions had improved their emotional health