Spirit of the Rainbow Heron

Late Night Cafe

“Art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed”
– Banksy

A café providing a quiet space to sit, read, play games, listen to music, talk, relax or take part in informal art activities, with volunteers and artists from different groups across Sheffield

More information All events

This project has been adopted by Sheffield MIND and will run every last Sunday evening in the month from September 2021 at the Wellbeing Centre 110 Sharrow Lane S11 8AL.

For further Information please contact lindsay.doyle-price@sheffieldmind.co.uk

Project History

The Rainbow Heron Late Night Café launched on 23^rd April 2017 and continued to happen on the last Sunday of every month until closed due to Covid in Spring 2020. It has been our flagship project. Please also read our Progress Report (summer 2018) and the Annual Report (spring 2019) which give more detail about the development of the project over the first two years and its involvement in Sheffield-wide events. Please check out our popular blog, which ran for 2 years and enjoy articles by our great former bloggers Chloe and Lizzy.

“The purpose of the Rainbow Heron Late Night Art Café is to promote wellbeing for young people through providing a regular safe space, with peer support and creative activities for relaxation, fun, self-expression, exploration, healing and sharing: a crisis prevention model for young people experiencing mental health problems. The ethos will be one of peer support and we intend that all who take part (guests, volunteers, artists and staff) will benefit from it. It will be mainly run by young volunteers, with a range of local artists and wellbeing professionals contributing one-off sessions. Activities are free of charge. Light and healthy refreshments will be available for free and guests will be invited to make a small contribution to costs if they are able. We also plan to have occasional collective cooking sessions. All guests and volunteers are encouraged to bring their ideas, interests and skills and be fully involved in the development of the project.”

The project concept was developed through discussions with young people, consultations with other organisations and visits to similar projects elsewhere in the country (for example, The Dragon Café in South London). It ran as a pilot project for one year and carried out an impact assessment, in order to share our experiences with other organisations in Sheffield. The first year of operation was financed by the Rainbow Heron Small Grants Fund, the Seedbed Christian Community Trust, Sheffield Soup crowdfunding along with individual donations and moral support from a range of local organisations.