WHY?
I want to help people in & through the arts.
To help:
- humans to feel connected, heard & valued
- people to use the arts to achieve their goals,
- people to make (part of) a living, gain financial independence, freedom
- people build friendships, self-esteem / confidence, to express themselves, to connect with others, to create & be part of a community which they feel they belong to, to show them that they matter, to give them a sense of control over & freedom in their lives.
- artists, curators, entrepreneurs, musicians, performers … to make & share their creative work, to make their creativity emotionally, financially, mentally and socially rewarding.
- humans who are directly / indirectly affected by mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, bi-polar, schizophrenia, psychosis, … (e.g. ‘2.7m people considering suicide because of financial pressure’ [Oct ‘23])
HOW?
Cheeky connects people to help you manage your social & mental health through coaching / consulting, community, education, events, fairly paid work, funding (arts & business) marketing & promotion.
Cheeky Fest helps humans by listening, sharing, supporting, donating, funding, paying for your work / services / products, experience, knowledge & skills.
WHAT?
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.
WHO?
Cheeky Fest is for people who;
- are under / unemployed and/or claiming benefit(s)
- are still finding how they coexist with the rest of society,
- educate, empower, encourage, engage, inspire, listen & share
- haven’t had the opportunity to develop & apply their skills & passions,
- aren’t earning enough money through their passion to support themselves,
- have had / continue to have mental health challenges such as; anxiety, bipolar, depression, psychosis or schizophrenia.
There’s often a correlation between creativity & mental health. We aim to raise awareness of and provide resources to manage mental health; a number of famous musicians have committed suicide as a result of mental health issues. In late May 2019 tragedy struck in my own life; a musician with whom I used to play died by suicide after struggling with bipolar disorder.
Music streaming (what musicians are being paid per stream) + Covid + changes in arts/music funding (e.g. recent ACE grant restructuring especially in the classical arena) + Brexit + “cost of living” aka greed crisis have had/are having a dramatic impact on performers in the UK.
WHY NOW?
Brexit + Covid + Cost of living + Streaming rates + Changes in arts funding (cf recent House of Lords’ arts debate) + Venue closures (check out the Music Venues Trust) + have had / are having a dramatic impact on performers in the UK.
With YOUR help, we can
1) Hire a (bigger) venue
2) Pay everyone involved fairly
3) Launch the Cheeky Foundation
4) Launch Cheeky Ventures
5) Launch Cheeky Education
The funds will be used to hire a venue (we’ve got a few in mind), pay everyone (not just performers, but sound/lighting/stage managers, curators, promoters … ) involved with the event fairly.
Why should you Sponsor Cheeky Fest? How Event Sponsorships Pay Off Exponentially by John Zozzaro (MediaTech Ventures).
WHY ME?
I (Rupert Cheek) studied music for many years and was an active musician (pianist & drummer) for 10 years & I sang in community choirs. I’ve dealt with trauma & suffered from depression, and experienced periods of unemployment.
I launched Cheeky as a Facebook group in Jan 2013 to help musicians connect with others and promote themselves. The tagline some years ago was “Connect through music”. I want(ed) to help them to use social media, to be social, to communicate. I help them think about what, how & when to share their stories / content / work.
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 (as 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.
Find out more about Cheeky & Cheeky Fest in London
