WHALE have been running an award-winning youth arts outreach programme in their community for the past 15 years. Every Thursday evening they go out onto the streets of Wester Hailes to deliver fun, inspiring and thought provoking activities in a wide range of art forms, ranging from pretty much every visual art medium (and some that don’t have names yet) to drama, movement, music, parkour, photography and even stage magic.

All of the sessions are designed to foster confidence, creativity and a sense of community amongst young people! We worked with WHALE in the early days of our charity and have noted that over the years they have really honed their delivery and systems to ensure that they make the biggest difference they can with every pound of funding they receive!

Unfortunately they have almost reached the end of their existing funding stream, and have not had any luck with securing funding to cover the planned next phase of sessions, as a result of the current squeeze in funding across the whole of the sector.  We cannot cover the total sums they required but we have given them some seed-corn funding to help them keep operating while they strive to raise further funding. We will also work with them to help with applications from funders.

WHALE work with so many young people just like Kiran, who have just the same zest, creativity and hunger to connect with the world that she had, and it was utterly heart-breaking to hear that these wonderful projects may not have any longevity!