The SNG #iwill Fund 2.0 – Wellbeing & Social Action Festivals
Our Wellbeing and Social Action Festivals aim to bring young people together to inspire action, break down mental health stigmas, and create positive change in their communities.
They are designed to create a space for networking, community connection, mental health and wellbeing awareness and employability and career support in SNG communities. These festivals provide pathways to youth social action and volunteering while fostering connection and collaboration.
Each festival is led and shaped by Wellbeing Champions from our funded projects and other young people in the area alongside young SNG customers and feature guest speakers, wellbeing activities, stalls, arts and role models to spread awareness of wellbeing and social action and the benefits.
All festivals are completely free to attend for local young people aged 10-20 and their families, whether they are from SNG homes or not, and feature free food, activities, support and merchandise. We’re aiming for young people to leave inspired by the skills, knowledge and opportunities to continue their wellbeing and social action journey beyond the event.
Having committed to holding a total of twelve festival by the end of 2026, we’ve already planned and delivered our first two festivals, which acted as pilots to form a baseline to prepare us to partner with four localised organisations to deliver four more this year in 2025. We then plan to hold a further six across new communities next year in 2026.
For any general queries relating to our Wellbeing & Social Action Festivals, please email us: iwillfund@sng.org.uk.
Find out more about our first two festivals delivered last year in 2024, and our plans for our next four this year in 2025, as well as a further six next year in 2026, below.
Find out more about each festival
Our first festival took place in the Summer holidays at Network Ryde Youth Service, St Thomas’ Square, Ryde, IW, PO33 2PJ on Friday 16 August 2024 from 2pm-6pm.
Having received positive feedback from young people, their families and local organisations, we’re pleased to report that our first festival was a huge success!
We had 53 young people from SNG communities engaged in the planning of the event, through survey responses and online meetings. The day was centred around the NHS’ 5 Steps to Wellbeing 
and featured mental health signposting support through arts therapy, localised support and services, themed wordsearches and activity sheets, musical performances, mindfulness activities, a sensory chill room, creative activities, chats with our Youth Panel about their experiences, games and lots more.
We also had 5 community partners join us, including local youth groups and services, a cookery academy and a face/body painter and we facilitated interactive and informative stalls on the SNG #iwill Fund, Social Impact, Employment and Skills, Youth Social Action, SNG’s Community Investment Offer, and The Foyer. Two of our Engaged Young Residents led on their own Youth Engagement stall with themed flowerpot and t-shirt decorating.
Feedback from the day includes "Being part of the Wellbeing & Social Action Festival was such a wonderful experience!” and "My kids go to school here, but we have all learnt something new."
Emily Morris, one of SNG’s Engaged Young Residents, who led her own Youth Engagement stall with a fellow Engaged Young Resident, said “Proud to be part of the first Wellbeing and Youth Social Action Festival that happened in Ryde, Isle of Wight, which is excitingly the first of many. I met so many amazing young people and shared so much about the #iwill movement and SNG's Engaged Young Residents.”
Please see below some photos of the day:
Michele from the Four Seasons Cookery Academy, Isle of Wight leading her interactive Cooking Workshop activity.
Emily Morris, one of SNG's Engaged Young Residents, engaging in conversation while leading her interactive #iwill and Youth Engagement stall.
Young people decorating T-Shirt’s, encouraged to design something that makes them happy.
Watch the film we produced to document the event below.
Transcript of the Wellbeing and Social Action Festival Video – Ryde, Isle of Wight [pdf, 43KB]
Our second festival took place in October half term at Manadon Sports and Community Hub, 121 St Peters Road, Plymouth, PL5 3FD on Wednesday 30 October 2024 from 12pm-4pm.
Our second festival was another success! We received a variety of positive feedback as well as suggestions to implement within future festivals from young people, their families and local organisations both on the day and through an online feedback form.
We had 59 young people from SNG communities engaged in the planning of the event, through survey responses and online meetings. The day was centred around the NHS’ 5 Steps to Wellbeing and featured mental health signposting support through arts and craft activities, localised support and services, themed wordsearches and activity sheets, memory bracelet making, mindfulness activities, wellbeing pledges, plant pot-painting, themed video editing activities, chats with our Engaged Young Residents about their experiences, games and lots more.
We also had 6 community partners join us, including local youth groups and services, an arts organisation and a face/body painter and we facilitated interactive and informative stalls on the SNG #iwill Fund, Social Impact, Employment and Skills, Youth Social Action, and SNG’s Community Investment Offer. One of our Engaged Young Residents led on their own Youth Engagement stall with themed t-shirt decorating.
Feedback from the day includes “people were amazing, activities were so much fun” and “Plymouth's Wellbeing & Social Action Festival was a great opportunity to connect with the community and share ideas on wellbeing. It was a privilege to be a part of it.”
Doaa Shayea, one of SNG's Engaged Young Residents, who led her own Youth Engagement stall, said “'Plymouth's Wellbeing & Social Action Festival was a great opportunity to connect with the community and share ideas on wellbeing. It was a privilege to be a part of it!’ and “I really enjoyed being part of the festival—it was a fantastic event, and it was wonderful to engage with so many people.”
Please see below some photos of the day:
Young people and Ellie, SNG #iwill Fund Project Officer, with their decorated t-shirts
Young person engaging with our SNG stress ball
Young people receiving support from Lynn, SNG’s local Employment and Skills Coach.
We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with Sculpt to work with local young people to plan and deliver our third festival. The festival is still in the planning stages, with more details to follow but participants can expect a vibrant mix of art workshops, group activities, volunteering opportunities, and talks - all designed to help them connect and reflect.
If you are a local young person aged 10-25 and would like to be involved in helping to plan this event or attend on the day, or are a local organisation who would like to be involved in this event through facilitating your own activity or stall or advertising it to your young people, email Lucy, Sculpt’s Youth Programme Officer: lucy.pettet@sculptuk.org.
We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with TRAIN to work with local young people to plan and deliver our fourth festival. The festival is set to be held on the 24 July 2025 at Cornerstone Arts Centre , with activities, budgets and the venue decided by a group of local young people.
If you are a local young person aged 10-25 and would like to be involved in helping to plan this event or attend on the day, or are a local organisation who would like to be involved in this event through facilitating your own activity or stall or advertising it to your young people, email Charlotte at TRAIN: CharlotteP@trainyouth.org.uk.
We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with Berkshire Youth to work with local young people to plan and deliver our fifth festival. This festival is still in the planning stages, with more details to follow.
If you are a local young person aged 10-25 and would like to be involved in helping to plan this event or attend on the day, or are a local organisation who would like to be involved in this event through facilitating your own activity or stall or advertising it to your young people, email Kerrie at Berkshire Youth: kerrie.hiscock@berkshireyouth.co.uk or complete this form .
Find out more about this festival on their poster [pdf, 336KB] 
.
We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with Young Bristol to work with local young people to plan and deliver our sixth festival. The festival is still in the planning stages, with more details to follow.
If you are a local young person aged 10-25 and would like to be involved in helping to plan this event or attend on the day, or are a local organisation who would like to be involved in this event through facilitating your own activity or stall or advertising it to your young people, email Jason at Young Bristol: jbt@youngbristol.com.
Next year, we’ll expand to six more areas, engaging even more young people in planning and delivering their own festivals. We will use the knowledge and learnings gained from our first six festivals to form the strategy for the remaining six festivals.
If you live in one of the below areas and are interested in staying updated with more details about your local festival, which will take place next summer, please visit our Get Involved webpage.
- Basingstoke
- Southampton
- Dorset
- Swindon
- Hertfordshire
- Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole
You can also look out for more information on this page towards the end of this year.
Find out more about the SNG #iwill Fund
