Our Future Ready strand of work has grown and evolved over the last seven years. Future Ready started as a long-term project in residence at Collingwood School & Media Arts College (Morpeth), which used the process of making a high-quality theatre production as a vehicle to develop the confidence, aspirations, and social and emotional skills of young people with specialist educational needs and disabilities (SEND), to help prepare them for the transition from education into adult life.
It has grown into a portfolio of work, with the focus of engaging, enabling, and empowering young people to make positive behavioural changes through drama, creative, and youth leadership projects. Future Ready embodies and champions inclusive approaches to co-creation, collaboration, and creativity - providing a broad range of activities, both in-person and digital, designed to accommodate a range of intersectional needs and to improve mental health and wellbeing. Our dynamic, engaging, and relevant creative projects enrich the provision within educational settings, with the intention of improving the personal, social, and educational outcomes of young people.
It has grown into a portfolio of work, with the focus of engaging, enabling, and empowering young people to make positive behavioural changes through drama, creative, and youth leadership projects. Future Ready embodies and champions inclusive approaches to co-creation, collaboration, and creativity - providing a broad range of activities, both in-person and digital, designed to accommodate a range of intersectional needs and to improve mental health and wellbeing. Our dynamic, engaging, and relevant creative projects enrich the provision within educational settings, with the intention of improving the personal, social, and educational outcomes of young people.
Future Ready currently consists of:
Creative Interventions
Working with education settings and youth work settings to use participation in creative activities to support young people to develop confidence and creative and social skills.
Young people are referred into the groups by the project partner, using criteria like high levels of school absence, mental health, behavioural challenges or intersectional needs. They take part in 12 weekly 2-hour sessions, with an informal sharing at the end. The young people can also complete an Arts Award qualification. Mortal Fools has been named as a Trinity Champion Centre 2023/24 for our successful delivery of Arts Award qualifications.
We are currently running creative interventions in Highfield Middle School (Prudhoe), NCEA Duke's Secondary School (Ashington), and The Duchess's Community High School (Alnwick).
In 2023, we ran creative interventions in YMCA Northumberland and Amble Youth Project.
For 2024, our Creative Intervention project in NCEA Duke's Secondary School is supported by Natural England. This support will enable us to deliver our skills development project with Duke’s Secondary School, helping young people to build confidence, creativity, and social skills. Theming the project around their connection with nature and their local area will support wellbeing outcomes and provide beneficial new experiences for the young people, as well as chances for us to experiment with new approaches to creativity, like using the outdoors to inspire our artistic work!
Working with education settings and youth work settings to use participation in creative activities to support young people to develop confidence and creative and social skills.
Young people are referred into the groups by the project partner, using criteria like high levels of school absence, mental health, behavioural challenges or intersectional needs. They take part in 12 weekly 2-hour sessions, with an informal sharing at the end. The young people can also complete an Arts Award qualification. Mortal Fools has been named as a Trinity Champion Centre 2023/24 for our successful delivery of Arts Award qualifications.
We are currently running creative interventions in Highfield Middle School (Prudhoe), NCEA Duke's Secondary School (Ashington), and The Duchess's Community High School (Alnwick).
In 2023, we ran creative interventions in YMCA Northumberland and Amble Youth Project.
For 2024, our Creative Intervention project in NCEA Duke's Secondary School is supported by Natural England. This support will enable us to deliver our skills development project with Duke’s Secondary School, helping young people to build confidence, creativity, and social skills. Theming the project around their connection with nature and their local area will support wellbeing outcomes and provide beneficial new experiences for the young people, as well as chances for us to experiment with new approaches to creativity, like using the outdoors to inspire our artistic work!
Natalie Cain - Head of Alternative Provision & Head of School Engagement at Duke’s Secondary School:
“We are proud to be working with Mortal fools on another project, this time with the added focus of nature and the outdoors. Our students thrive when working creatively and the added bonus of using our outdoor spaces and other spaces in Ashington with support from Natural England to explore how they feel about the Natural World and to create a piece of work is super exciting! I can't wait to observe their journey and see what the students create!”
Mortal Fools Young Cultural Leaders
We support young people in their broader personal development through social action projects, event management, Peer Facilitation training, volunteering, and work experience. This includes opportunities to do higher level Arts Award qualifications.
Cross-Sector Partnerships
Working with youth sector partners, we are testing co-delivery models - combining creative practices with traditional youth work practice. The focus is on using our creative approach to develop employability, social action, and leadership skills. To find out more, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected].
We support young people in their broader personal development through social action projects, event management, Peer Facilitation training, volunteering, and work experience. This includes opportunities to do higher level Arts Award qualifications.
Cross-Sector Partnerships
Working with youth sector partners, we are testing co-delivery models - combining creative practices with traditional youth work practice. The focus is on using our creative approach to develop employability, social action, and leadership skills. To find out more, please feel free to drop us an email at [email protected].
Previous Future Ready Projects
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Hugging Dogs 2019
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In 2018-19, we worked with a group of 14 young people aged 13-19 to devise a new piece of theatre from the theme of happiness - the first time we had devised with this group.
What we created was a combination of inter-linked stories, including: Scotty's relationship with his busy dad and what happened when he met Bob, a stray dog; the doctor's receptionist who discovers she's unexpectedly pregnant with her fourth child, and everyone keeps telling her how happy she should be; and Elle reminiscing from her seat in the doctor's waiting room about what life was like before her mum got sick. "You can't touch it, taste it, see it or smell it. But you can feel it throughout your body. Happiness can be found right in front of you. We just need to look harder." |
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ROMEO + JULIET 2018
In 2017-18 we introduced touring for the first time, with our dystopian production of Romeo + Juliet - visiting two professional theatres and Barbara Priestman Academy in Sunderland. In the video (left), you can hear some of the young people involved explaining how the project has helped them to develop. You can read more about the theatre production here |
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THE TEMPEST 2017 Young people were also part of creating the production design on this project, working alongside professional artists and designers on all design areas including set, costume, and props. For this production, professional artist Judy Thomas worked with a group of pupils to design the set - which used more than fifty shipping pallets to create a beautiful and desolate island wasteland. “Sitting in my car having a little cry after seeing this - genuinely moving, incredible performances by some amazing young people.”
- Melanie Carter, Area Manager. Culture Bridge North East (via Twitter) |
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HAMLET 2016
In 2015-16 we produced Hamlet, our first full-scale theare production with the school. It was set in a punk nightclub in modern day and the school were accommodating enough to allow us to take over the school hall for a full two weeks to enable us to fully transform it into an immersive theatre space. Watch this short film made by media pupils at the school to find out more about the project.
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