A North East creative learning charity has secured a six-figure investment from the foundation of a multinational brand to support children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing.
 
Award-winning theatre, drama and creative learning charity Mortal Fools has secured funding of NOK3,000,000 - approximately £215,000 - from Kavli Trust, the foundation arm of the parent company of popular cheese brand, Primula, to develop its high-impact work supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.

Mortal Fools have developed a range of creative projects as new and pioneering alternative responses to tackling the mounting children's mental health crisis in the UK, including increasing referrals being made for young people to statutory services and anxiety-based conditions continuing to rise year-on-year.

The funding from Kavli Trust aligns with the growing UK policy recognition of creative health as a vital tool to tackle this challenge, including the establishment of a Creative Health All Party Parliamentary Group last year.

This is the second round of grant funding that Mortal Fools has received from Kavli Trust, who prioritise supporting projects that enhance children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing as part of their global approach to supporting the furtherance of human rights. This ongoing support will enable Mortal Fools to further develop three areas of their work:  
 
MELVA Digital - an award-winning creative digital programme that improves key stage 2 children's mental health knowledge and practical self-management techniques through multi-media storytelling and has already reached 11,000 young people in 130 educational settings.
 
This new funding will support the addition of an illustrated novel to the programme for 2025-26 and new resources for key stage 1, its expansion across the Northeast region and using the programme and its data as a powerful advocacy tool to lobby for policy change and further investment.
 
The development of their Wellbeing Practice Guide & Evaluation Toolkit into an online digital programme, accessible to users across the UK. The programme is structured to the ratified PERMA™ Framework for Mental Wellbeing and is designed to guide settings working with young people to plan, monitor and measure their work in ways that enhance the wellbeing of participants and generates tangible wellbeing impact data.
 
This ongoing commitment will also support the furtherance of Mortal Fools’ expertise in the field of Creative Health, with a particular focus on work in co-creation and applied interventions e.g. in schools to support transition and prevent absenteeism.
 
The funding will also support the development of Mortal Fools’ national profile and reputation as a leader in the field of Creative Health for children and young people.

Over the last year, Mortal Fools has been through some incredible developments, successfully navigated significant challenges and been recognised for our excellence – all testament to our wonderful, dedicated and talented staff team and young people.

The initiative provides intensive and intentional employability enhancing interventions for young people aged 14-30 years old, using creative practice and social sciences to unlock young people’s potential and support their employability skills development.

Unlike other employability interventions - which often focus on getting people ‘CV ready’ and take a uniform approach in encouraging them into employment - CONNECT: Future Ready harnesses the power of creativity to boost confidence, capabilities and competencies essential for the workplace in a way that works for each individual.

Over the course of the pilot, the project supported 111 young people in total, with 53 taking part across five intensive employability interventions. In addition, 31 young people completed three week-long interventions, achieving an impressive 26 Bronze Arts Awards - a Nationally recognised qualification demonstrating the development of a wide range of transferable skills.

Multiple masterclass workshops were held for young people interested in artform skills development, including specialist classes on animation, music making, set and costume design.

As part of the initiative, Mortal Fools developed effective partnerships with local schools NCEA Duke's Secondary School and Northumberland College, and created strong referral partnerships with DWP, Groundwork North East, Kings Trust, Newcastle United Foundation, Northumberland Employability Network and Pride Action North East.

The project also held three consultation sessions inviting young people from education and community settings to share their insights and perspectives of experiencing barriers to entering employment.

CONNECT: Creative Futures is a one-day commissionable session for young people aged 14-18 years old, while Young CONNECT is a version of Mortal Fools’ training and professional development programme for organisations and teams adapted specifically for young people.

Mortal Fools also delivers a range of Creative Careers Talks and takes part in Career Fairs, as well as offering a wide variety of free online employability content and learning materials.