Cheeky Fest; social impact arts festival in London

We bring together artists, entrepreneurs and performers so that we can manage our mental & social health through coaching / consulting, community, education, events, fairly paid work, funding (arts & startup/business), marketing & promotion.

Our mission is to help people to;

- make their creativity financially, mentally & socially rewarding.

- create & be part of a community which they feel they belong

- make their creativity financially, mentally & socially rewarding

- make enough money through the arts to support themselves

- give them a sense of control over & freedom in their lives.

- express themselves, build their self-esteem / confidence,

- gain financial independence & freedom

- use the arts to achieve their goals,

- feel connected, heard & valued

Cheeky Fest is a beautiful, bold, bright, collaborative, colourful, creative, daring, dramatic, dynamic, educational, empowering, encouraging, engaging, enthralling, ear/eye opening, expressive, inspiring, international, invigorating, joyous, participatory, public, progressive, reciprocal, reflective, social, thought-provoking year-round Community growing through an annual Festival.

After an initial event on the 29th of Aug '24 in Kingston, SW London, which raised almost 900 UKP for Nordoff & Robbins, we're now planning our 2nd event for 2025.

I (Rupert Cheek) studied music for many years and was an active musician (pianist & drummer) for 10 years, as well as singing in community choirs.

Some years after being involved in an accident in Sept '11, I wanted to organise some kind of event to fundraise for the London's Air Ambulance service who rescued & treated me and took me to hospital. Then I wanted to fundraise for Nordoff (And) Robbins music therapy (I had music therapy when I was young); so I thought ‘let’s split the profit 50/50'. The fundraising event idea then grew into an arts community and series of festivals — initially in London, and hopefully happening in other cities / countries in the future.

WHO?

Cheeky Fest is for people who;

have anxiety, bipolar, depression, psychosis, PTSD or schizophrenia.

educate, empower, encourage, engage, inspire, listen & share

are still finding how they coexist with the rest of society,

haven’t had the opportunity to develop their passions,

aren’t supporting themselves through their passion(s),

are under / unemployed and/or claiming benefit(s)

There's often a correlation between creativity & mental health. We aim to raise awareness of & provide resources to manage mental health; a number of famous musicians have died by suicide as a result of mental health issues. In late May 2019 I lost a dear friend and musician with whom I used to play. He died by suicide after struggling with bipolar disorder. I’ve struggled with depression & experienced trauma / PTSD at various points in my life. I've also experienced periods of unemployment.

Why now?

Music streaming (i.e. what musicians are being paid per stream) + changes in arts / music funding + Brexit have had / are having a dramatic impact on performers in the UK.

With YOUR help, we can

1) Hire a venue

2) Pay performers fairly

3) Employ people / pay people fairly

4) Launch Cheeky Foundation to support artists & performers

5) Launch Cheeky Ventures to support arts entrepreneurs

6) Launch Cheeky Education to teach people the arts

Find out more about Cheeky Fest

What's in it for YOU?

Cheeky merchandise

Improve your communication

Get better at what you want to do

Entry into VIP areas / backstage passes

Replace fear with a supportive community

Be part of something bigger than yourself

Meet artists, performers & Cheeky team at Events

Navigate your challenges together with vulnerability

Company name as partner / sponsor in all brochures

Connect with other humans, help them and make friends

Social media consulting, Business / leadership consulting

Written Interview about you / business / creative work

Lifetime* entry to all Cheeky events (travel not included)

Achieve bigger goals that you couldn't achieve on your own

Increase support for your creative work, business or institution

Marketing on social media & cheekyfest live, space, .foundation,