Who are we?
Alright Mate? CIC are an award winning arts organisation who make participatory art projects that normalise conversations about male mental health.
Alright Mate? is unique in that we offer a model where local businesses and artists work together to help improve men’s mental health and reduce the risk of suicide.
We provide creative and social events in places where men frequent and go to socialise to increase the likelihood of them seeking help when they need it in a timely way to avoid a mental health crisis.
Our vision is for a world where men can openly communicate about mental health, and our mission is to normalise conversations about men’s mental health through the sharing of lived experiences.
Cally Hayes
Director
Cally Hayes is an Exeter based writer, educator and mental health specialist. She makes art and performance to challenge the myths around mental health. Fundamental to her productions, is the process of research based writing and working with testimony. She collaborates with other artists to produce pieces for performance, audio drama and site specific installations. As an educator, her perinatal mental health training module using forum theatre techniques, has been commissioned by NHS England and she was a 2017 nominee for a NHS England Education Star award for Listening to the Patient’s Voice.
Hugh McCann
Director
Helen Scholes
Non-Executive Director
Helen Scholes is Regional Marketing Manager for GWR and works with diverse organisations across the South West. Her key skills include partnership development and stakeholder relations which she uses to help support Cally in Alright Mate's journey to broaden the discussion of male mental health.
Kevin Johnson
Associate Artist
Kevin is a Theatre Director, Actor and Facilitator that has worked with Alright Mate? on 'Cracking' in its various formats over the life of the project. He has a passion for arts and mental health projects and was artistic director of Symbiotic Theatre for 7 years (a company that was focussed on challenging stigma and raising awareness of mental health issues through theatre arts). He is currently co-director of The Wheel, an Associate Lecturer and Acting Coach for Falmouth University and Cygnet Drama School, and an Associate artist for the National Youth Theatre of England.
Stephen Raff
Associate Artist
Stephen Raff is a visual artist passionate and dedicated to the making of wet plate collodion photographs. Working on glass, Stephen creates unique, beautiful and ambiguous objects, embracing the serendipity of chemical flaws and imperfections. The process is slow and methodical and allows for a deeper, richer, and more expressive experience. His work investigates the relationship between nature and the human mind, using his photographic practice and imagery to share his own emotional response to this interaction and to raise awareness.
Joe Hancock
Associate Artist
Joe Hancock is a director, producer and puppeteer. He is also artistic director of Burn the Curtain, who make theatre outdoors where audiences can become playful participants and performers and spectators alike can meet on equal terms, ready for adventure.
Luke Jeffery
Associate Artist
Luke Jeffery is a writer/director and runs Wandering Tiger, a Devon based film and theatre company company. He is also a freelance filmmaker, a producer for arts charity Villages in Action, and an associate artist at Exeter Phoenix. In 2017 he was selected for the BAFTA Crew programme for emerging filmmakers.