Mortal Fools sets up second base in Ashington, offering free creative & drama opportunities to local young people.

We couldn’t finish this year without letting you all in on a big landmark moment for us at Mortal Fools; we’ve set up another base in YMCA Northumberland, Ashington! This is such an exciting moment, rounding out another year of organisational growth, and will see us expand our creative projects and launch new youth theatre groups for young people in Ashington and the surrounding areas.

We specialise in co-creating theatre and creative projects with young people; offering opportunities to those aged 7-19 years old in Northumberland from our Prudhoe base. We believe that Youth Theatre is a tremendous vehicle for helping young people build their confidence and skills by engaging their creativity. We focus on supporting children and young people's creativity, wellbeing and self-belief using the medium of drama.

​The impact on young people through engaging with youth theatre and organisations like Mortal Fools and YMCA Northumberland can be huge and have a really important, positive effect on well-being. These safe, fun, creative spaces enable young people to make sense of the world, explore contemporary world issues with peers, and develop transferrable skills like emotional resilience, leadership and communication skills - skills that are even more important and needed in this uncertain landscape.

We are so excited to be expanding into YMCA Northumberland; using their hall space for activities with young people and taking up office space. This will be in addition to our Prudhoe office, growing Tyne Valley Youth Theatre groups, online groups and work across the North-East and wider North.  From January 2022, we will be launching new Youth Theatre groups in Ashington, providing free creative drama infused opportunities to even more Northumberland young people. We’ve been running successful taster sessions across December and there are more across January for 7-11 year olds and 14-18 year olds, with exciting projects in the pipeline. You can find out more about those HERE.

About the expansion our CEO and Artistic Director Kiz Crosbie said:

We are delighted to have established this new base within the YMCA Northumberland building in the heart of Ashington and are grateful for the welcome we have received so far. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed connecting with Ashington young people via our youth theatre taster sessions so far. We look forward to building a lasting, dynamic and creative relationships with YMCA, meeting and working with more local young people and embedding into the Ashington community.

This expansion into Ashington, within the YMCA Northumberland building, also marks the start of some collaborative working and partnership young people’s projects with YMCA Northumberland. YMCA Northumberland is an independent charity, bringing together local people and organisations to support young people and their needs in Northumberland for over 130 years. The core of their work is in providing grass roots youth programmes that support and empower young people to help them reach their true potential. YMCA Northumberland is known for its incredible youth work and Mortal Fools for its drama interventions supporting well-being. Through this new and evolving partnership we believe that we will have a greater impact on Ashington youngsters by combining our strengths.

Rob Cox, CEO of YMCA Northumberland said of this new partnership:

We feel delighted and fortunate to now class Mortal Fools as a key partner. Their skills, flexibility, honesty and leadership give us confidence that this collaboration will bring exciting and meaningful opportunities to young people in Northumberland.

In addition to this expansion and new partnership, in 2022, Mortal Fools will be marking our 10 year organisational birthday alongside new projects, performances and lots of opportunities for young people to get involved! Keep an eye on our social media platforms @mortalfoolsuk and sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all our happenings. You can also visit www.mortalfools.org.uk/ashington-tasters to find out more about (and sign up for) Ashington Mortal Fools Youth Theatre taster sessions.
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We are so excited for this next chapter and another year of positive contributions to young people’s lives with our network and growing creative offer!