Each year, schools across Merseyside come together to take part in the annual NOW Mental Health Festival during Children’s Mental Health Week.
The annual festival is organised and directed by Merseyside Youth Association’s (MYA) RAISE Mental Health Promotion Team, in partnership with Liverpool’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health Support Partnership, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), Liverpool Place and the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership.
The theme for 2026 is ‘Mental Health and the Environment’
BOOK TICKETS FOR THE 2026 NOW FESTIVAL
What is the impact of NOW Fest?
Since 2016, this annual event has brought together children and young people across the Liverpool City Region, amplifying their voices through impactful performances that tackle critical issues important to them and explore emotional resilience, community and social cohesion.
Past initiatives inspired by the NOW Festival include educational campaigns, suicide prevention work, and Liverpool’s recognition as a UNICEF Child-Friendly City.
We’ve also seen the creation of the ACEs project coordinator role, which has helped develop the city’s Growing Stronger Framework. Collectively, these initiatives strengthen mental health systems and awareness across the city.
Giving Youth a Voice – The festival provides young people with a creative outlet to process and communicate their experiences of how factors affect their mental health. This can reduce stigma and foster empathy in the wider community.
Building Resilience Through Community and Creativity – Participation in collaborative, expressive projects strengthens social ties and boosts individual self-worth—two key components of mental resilience.
Raising Awareness and Inspiring Change – Art has the power to humanise complex issues. NOW Festival can highlight how conditions impact mental wellbeing and call attention to the need for systemic change.
Targeted Prevention and Early Intervention – By identifying themes emerging from young people’s lived experiences, stakeholders (educators, health professionals, planners) can better design local interventions and policies that prioritise youth mental health.
Empowerment Through Participation – Engaging young people in the creation of performances puts them at the heart of the conversation, helping them to feel seen, heard, and empowered to make a difference.
The Process
The NOW Festival process starts after the launch night. From the launch night, we will ask you to return to your setting and start working with your group of children and young people. You can work with a group of up to 30 young people from your setting.
We will send you the launch night slides, which you can use as an initial session to explore themes with your group and to identify what they’d like their piece to focus on.
NOW Festival Support from RAISE Team
The RAISE Team will offer all groups visits from their allocated mentor. The first visit will be early on in the process (before Christmas), and the second slightly later on (after Christmas). These visits are to support groups and group leaders in producing high-quality work, and to ensure there is an understanding of mental health and the NOW FEASTIVAL theme. We also offer additional visits for groups who request them, or who may need extra support. Our NOW Festival team are skilled in both the performing arts and mental health promotion, so we will guide and support all pieces so they feel confident and ready for the NOW Festival.
Outreach Performances
Before the festival, we encourage all groups to host a performance for their peers in their school or youth group. This performance is first a rehearsal for the festival, but also a fantastic opportunity to share the ideas behind the pieces with peers. A member of the NOW Festival team attends the outreach performance. It can be used as an opportunity to develop ideas and explore mental health further, as well as a rehearsal for the festival itself! Also invited to these performances will be the CAMHS link worker for mental health practitioners at each school, so that connections can be made and a dialogue can be established about mental health.
Outcomes
The festival is unique because it is inclusive of all young people. It is an amazing opportunity for young people to mix with other schools and youth groups while sharing creative ideas. Throughout the process of devising the piece and showcasing it on stage, we know that young people flourish and grow in confidence as young people and performers in an environment like this. The produced pieces are high-quality and well-supported by the NOW Festival team. By the end of the festival, the young people’s ability to articulate their thoughts about mental health and the NOW FESTIVAL topic through the performing arts is incredibly powerful. The festival is an amazing experience for everyone involved, both educationally and personally.
GCSE AND A LEVEL
The NOW festival process and performance is tailored to fit the GCSE and A-Level drama exam specification. As the festival is about devising a performing arts piece, it fits into the devising module on all GCSE exam boards and some A Level exam boards, depending on the board’s stimulus requirements. We are aware that, for the examination, the pieces have to be 5 minutes per person, and the festival guidelines require a 15-minute piece. In this case, we have often encouraged larger groups to create their devised examination pieces, but we will assist in creating a festival version. Even performing a shortened version of their show can be an excellent rehearsal for the students’ exam and can give the group more drive to create a high-quality piece of work.