Buy tickets for the NOW Festival 2026

Children and young people from across Merseyside will take part in the 2026 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. It will take place over three nights, 9th, 10th and 11th February, in the Epstein Theatre.

The theme for 2026 is ‘Mental Health and the Environment’

Evidence shows that a wide range of environmental and social factors in young people’s surroundings—both physical and social—deeply affect their wellbeing.
During NOW Fest 2026, we will:

• Explore what local social, economic and other factors damage or encourage good mental health and how these have changed over time.
• Highlight how these factors affect different groups of people, cause inequalities and affect the need for mental health services.
• Pinpoint what children and young people feel about their local area and what they are concerned about.
• Showcase how strong social networks and community assets are.
• Question through youth voice how these wider influences on health can be tackled by prevention initiatives.

Buy your tickets for NOW Festival 2026 here