Beaches To Welcome Sesame Street’s Julia
Beaches Resorts is expanding its partnership with Sesame Street and following the landmark television debut of Julia, a new Sesame Street Muppet with autism, will welcome the walkaround character’s arrival to its resorts in Jamaica and Turks & Caicos this fall.
Julia’s debut continues Beaches Resorts’ partnership with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, and expands the resort company’s exclusive Beaches Resorts Caribbean Adventure with Sesame Street program, now in its 13th year.
“We created Beaches Resorts as a concept for everyone and it’s our privilege, particularly during Autism Awareness Month, to announce the addition of Julia this Fall as part of our exclusive relationship with Sesame Workshop,” said Adam Stewart, CEO of Beaches Resorts. “As a resort company that also celebrates that children have a remarkable ability to see amazing in all people, we are excited to introduce more inclusive programming for families with children on the spectrum of which Julia will play a part in.”
As a sponsor of Sesame Street, Beaches Resorts is the only Caribbean resort company to offer engaging activities with a colourful cast of walkaround characters including Elmo, Cookie Monster, Super Grover, Zoe, Bert and Ernie, Abby Cadabby, The Count, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird and, soon, Julia.
With an already extensive roster of hands-on activities available at Beaches Resorts, from Baking with Cookie Monster to Story Time with Elmo, Julia will bring forth a new activity, Amazing Art with Julia. In this activity, children will be greeted by Julia, a four-year-old girl character who has autism. Julia, who loves to paint, will highlight how people can express themselves through art. Using a range of materials, children will have the opportunity to explore, experiment and create in this open-ended art activity. Afterwards, children will talk about how they created their piece (colours, lines, shapes, etc.) and how their artwork is a celebration of who they are and their unique self.
“We launched our autism initiative, ‘See Amazing in All Children’ to promote awareness and acceptance and to combat the stigma and isolation so often experienced by children with autism and their families,” said Steve Youngwood, COO, Sesame Workshop. “Initially a digital character, Julia has come to life on Sesame Street, and now as a walkaround character who is sure to bring joy to children. We’re thrilled to work with our long-time partner, Beaches Resorts, to extend our work around diversity, acceptance, and kindness.”
(http://www.beaches.com/autism-friendly-resorts)
