Creative story-making to build young people’s resilience and support their mental well-being in uncertain times (360G-CFNI-A566965)
Funding Organization
£12,460
Recipient Organization
Towards Creative Story making
Where is this data from?
This data was originally published by Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. If you see something about your organisation or the funding it has received on this page that doesn't look right you can submit a grantee amendment request. You can hover over codes from standard codelists to see the user-friendly name provided by 360Giving.
Grant Details
| Amount Applied For | 14960 |
| Amount Awarded | 12460 |
| Award Date | 2020-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Beneficiary Location: Country Code | GB |
| Beneficiary Location: Geographic Code | 95GG04S3 |
| Beneficiary Location: Name | Ballymacarrett_3 |
| Grant Programme: Code | New Needs Fund - 4 |
| Grant Programme: Title | The New Needs Fund |
| Impact Category | Connect people with the arts, culture and heritage |
| Last Modified | 2020-08-06T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Planned Dates: Duration (months) | 5 |
| Planned Dates: End Date | 2021-02-26T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Planned Dates: Start Date | 2020-09-01T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Primary age group | Children (5 – 12) |
| Primary beneficiary | Children and Young People |
| Primary ethnicity | White |
| Recipient Org: Charity Number | NIC105751 |
| Recipient Org: Company Number | NI638582 |
| Recipient Org: Description | Who we are - Fighting Words (FW) uses the power of creative writing to build young people's self-confidence and creative skills, helping them become resilient shapers of their own lives. Our programme of free activities for 6-18 year olds tackles issues of educational underachievement, supports young people's mental health and is becoming a recognised force for addressing cross-community divisions across Northern Ireland (NI). In ‘normal’ conditions we run creative writing workshops and projects for school classes and community groups throughout the year, supported by a growing team of 350+ adult volunteer mentors. Since lockdown in March, we have initiated a wide-reaching digital strategy. During these difficult times, demand for digital creative opportunities, especially for young people and their families, and increasingly for schools and teachers, continues to grow, as demonstrated by the significant levels of engagement with our social media posts and high numbers of submissions for projects such as 'Become a Storykeeper'. Our objective is to be a conduit for that need and an outlet for that expression which will be vital to sustaining young people's mental health, resilience and learning during this period. Our ambition is that every schoolchild in NI can access our workshops at least twice during their education. Because of public health circumstances, we are adapting our face-to-face workshops and building our online capabilities so that we continue to support schoolchildren across NI with inspiring, creative writing opportunities. What we do - Since 2015 we have provided over 9,000 writing experiences for children and young people, prioritising those at schools in areas of multiple deprivation and where creative opportunities are fewer: last year, 65% of schools attending our workshops were located in one of the 20% most deprived areas in greater Belfast (NIMDM). We run our workshops outside the school setting - either at our workshop space at Skainos Square in East Belfast or at a partner venue e.g. Riverside Theatre, Coleraine and The Playhouse Theatre, Derry-Londonderry. Taking the children outside school is key - in a neutral, vibrant space they can unshackle from others’ expectations of them and enter the workshop as the unique creative selves they are. Eight to 10 adult Volunteer Mentors assist at each workshop, ensuring each participant gets one-to-one attention and encouragement, truly engaging with their writing and providing positive adult role models. This exact type of support is transformative to a young person’s development; teachers frequently tell us how their students' writing is ignited by our approach and that their confidence and participation visibly grow in class after just one workshop. We have tailored a series of these workshops to connect especially with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as their parents/guardians and sibling carers. These workshops, created in consultation with the ASD Intervention Service of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, are much-needed safe spaces where all can take part and explore their own abilities. To extend the impact of our work we run Special Projects that bring together groups of young people from different communities to work on their creative writing over a sustained period. These projects include our Right Twig young playwrights’ programme and four Crosswords cross-border projects. We also run two weekly after-school Write Clubs for teens, and each year we train over 100 teachers, equipping them with the skills to weave creativity into their classes throughout their careers. Wherever possible we find ways to publish the young people’s writing: on our website, in our anthologies, in live performances/launches, or in The Irish Times annual new writing supplement of work from Fighting Words centres. The impact on the young writers of seeing their words published is vital to strengthening their confidence and valuing their voices; we will continue to find new opportunities and forms to get their writing read and heard. Why we do it - We believe that fostering a young person’s imaginative and creative capabilities is central to their personal and educational growth. The need for support and creative opportunities for young people in NI to develop life skills, empathy and confidence, and access the power of their freedom of expression and thought, is pressing. Testimonials we’ve gathered from participants and teachers show the crucial, transformative nature of the work we do: A post-primary student told us, ‘When I walked in I knew I couldn't write a story and when I walked out I knew I could.’ Teachers appreciate our inventive approach and non-school setting; they see their students in a new light, learning fresh ways to engage their unique interests and abilities: ‘FW made a real impact on a pupil [who] had been disengaged from school [and] had a particular issue with English. She attended a FW workshop and came to me the next day in class to show me her story. She was so excited and proud of what she had created. The workshop allowed her to see what she was capable of.’ Our volunteers play a key role in the difference we make; adults from diverse backgrounds (including professional/student writers, parents/grandparents) connect with the ideas and development of the participants and they often tell us about the impact these projects have on them: ‘The most rewarding sessions I had were with some Polish children with English as a second language. One boy whose English was very weak was able to tell me the continuation of a story which I wrote for him and he copied and read back to me. His teacher was very surprised at what he was able to produce!’ We play an essential civic-engagement role by training hundreds of volunteer mentors. |
| Recipient Org: Web Address | http://www.fightingwords.co.uk |