Youth theatre creates positive,
supportive spaces for children

Brave Words CIC tells stories with a social purpose and creates adventures in the arts that invest in children, young people, and communities. They had a grant from Flint Family Fund to support their pay-what-you-can youth theatres.

Can you tell us a bit about Brave Words CIC?

We’re a theatre company based in Leeds aiming to realise the power of people’s stories and make them heard! We work with young people across disadvantaged areas of the city running pay-what-you-can youth theatres with a focus on growing confidence, make new plays telling stories with a social purpose and run a Young Producers project for young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) to work on professional theatre shows. 

What has funding from Flint Family Fund enabled you to do? 

The Flint Family Funding has supported our pay-what-you-can Youth Theatres, enabling us to work in Beeston, Seacroft and Meanwood with 160+ children and young people every week. During the funding period this has included a large-scale youth theatre production on the Quarry stage at Leeds Playhouse exploring stories of migration and folk tales from the many countries across the world where our members have family, and the creation of a series of youth-led films. 

Can you tell us about the impact of what you do on the people you work with? 

Our sessions create positive, supportive spaces for children to grow confidence, make friends, raise self-esteem and support mental wellbeing. Through devising plays and characters, children explore emotions, empathy and create plays in a way that supports the development of verbal and written literacy. One member says: “Brave Words is the only space I feel safe to express myself.”, another “You helped me know what I want to do with my life.” and another “I feel heard.”  

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an organisation?  

Being a very small team means that we’re always working incredibly hard just to keep everything going. The strains of fundraising are probably the biggest challenge – it’s exhausting, and has become more and more competitive in the last few years. 

How is your organisation preparing for the future, and what kind of funding is needed? 

We’re about to re-launch our education offer, so that schools can book our performance poetry and storytelling and wellbeing workshops. In terms of funding – unrestricted funding and multi-year funding are what we need to make sure we have security for the future.