Blue Cabin

Name

Blue Cabin

Legal name

Blue Cabin

Website

https://wearebluecabin.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Gateshead

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Charitable Grants: Blue Cabin operates as a registered charity (number 1195152) primarily funded through grants from foundations, trusts, and government bodies including Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, and local authorities.
2. Commissioned Project Delivery: Blue Cabin receives commissions from local authorities, Virtual Schools, and organisations to deliver specific creative programmes including Arts Award, Cool Things Days, and sector support services.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Blue Cabin is a registered charity that develops and strengthens relationships between care-experienced individuals and the people in their lives through trauma-informed creative activities. The organisation delivers commissioned creative programmes including Arts Award accreditation, Creative Life Story Work, Creative Aid in HMP Deerbolt, This is the Place early years music-making, Creative Facilitation Training, Cool Things Days, Between Chapters, and Sector Support Services, primarily for local authorities, Virtual Schools, and cultural organisations.

Product overview

Blue Cabin is a registered charity (number 1195152) that develops and strengthens relationships between care experienced individuals and the people in their lives through trauma-informed creative activities. The organisation operates as a service provider rather than a software product company, offering a portfolio of creative programmes including Arts Award delivery, Creative Facilitation Training, Creative Aid (prison programme), This is the Place (early years music-making), Creative Life Story Work, Cool Things Days, Between Chapters, Just for Joy (SEND workshops), and Sector Support Services. These programmes are delivered by a core team and associate artists across the North East of England, with project-specific partnerships with local authorities, virtual schools, and cultural organisations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Creative Life Story Work: A programme using creative approaches to help care-experienced children understand their life stories, make sense of their past, and move forward. Includes a website with resources, podcast, and training for practitioners.

Products and services

• Arts Award Packages Trauma-informed Arts Award accreditation packages (Discover in a Day, Discover in a Half Term, Explore Intensive, Explore in a Term) for care-experienced children and young people aged 7-14, delivered by qualified Arts Award advisers on behalf of local authorities, Virtual Schools, and commissioners.
• Creative Facilitation Training A nine-month training programme in Creative Facilitation for care leavers aged 18-25, delivered in partnership with Durham University Institute for Medical Humanities across three UK locations (Durham, Manchester, Bristol), with three cohorts of approximately 10 care-experienced adults each.
• Creative Aid A co-creation creative programme with care-experienced young men aged 16-25 in HMP/YOI Deerbolt prison, supporting participants to work with professional artists and achieve Arts Award accreditation, delivered in partnership with Nepacs and funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
• This is the Place Early years music-making programme for babies and children aged 0-5 in care and their foster carers, using music to build relationships and attachment, delivered in partnership with Theatre Hullabaloo and local councils.
• Creative Life Story Work Trauma-informed life story work programme providing resources, information, and inspiration for practitioners, carers and students working with care-experienced children and young people, including a website, podcast, and practitioner training.
• Cool Things Days Unique creative experience days for care-experienced children and young people, offering one-off or series creative activities to improve relationships, build confidence, and increase sense of belonging and pride.
• Between Chapters Three-year project (2025-2028) focused on life story work for young people aged 16-25 leaving care, exploring existing resources, identifying gaps, and developing new tools and guidance specifically for care leavers.
• Just for Joy Clowning workshops with SEND schools in Gateshead, introducing children and young people with learning disabilities to physical comedy, improvisation, movement, and sensory play, culminating in a Joyful Jamboree celebration.
• Sector Support Services Support services for other organisations working with care-experienced children and young people, including training in care system context, trauma awareness, buddying sessions with associate artists, and facilitated reflection sessions.

Quantifiable outcome

• All participants in Creative Aid achieved Bronze Arts Award qualification
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered secondary and core.

• Thoughtful (Society for Philosophical Enquiry)secondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Blue Cabin partnered with Thoughtful (formerly SAPERE) to explore themes in Creative Aid artworks through philosophical enquiry. The partnership hosts online events and supports participants in articulating and questioning their artistic identity.
• TeesDancesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026Blue Cabin provides sector support for TeesDance, Tees Valley's flagship charity for dance, including training in the care system context, trauma awareness, buddying with associate artists, and self-care sessions to prepare for a 2026 project.
• University of Kent and University of EssexsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026Blue Cabin is supporting researchers at the Universities of Kent and Essex on the Invisible Mothers project, exploring mothers' experience of adoption. Blue Cabin provides insights into the care system, buddying time with associate artists, and facilitated reflection sessions.
• Durham University Institute for Medical HumanitiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2025Blue Cabin and Durham University Institute for Medical Humanities are jointly delivering a nine-month Creative Facilitation training programme for care-experienced adults aged 18-25. The programme runs across three cohorts in Durham, Manchester, and Bristol, with Mary Robson from Durham University serving as Senior Creative Facilitator.
• Theatre HullabaloosecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Blue Cabin partners with Theatre Hullabaloo in Darlington to deliver This is the Place early years music-making programme for care-experienced babies and children with their foster carers.
• TimbaDash TheatresecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Blue Cabin and TimbaDash Theatre partner on the Just for Joy project, delivering clowning workshops with SEND schools in Gateshead. Liv Hunt and Elena Miller from TimbaDash lead the workshops.
• tialt (There is an Alternative)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Blue Cabin collaborates with tialt, a social enterprise designing creative research tools for positive social impact, to develop new ways of capturing the impact of their work. Together they created an Impact Framework and developed creative evaluation tools including the Quadrant Tool, Small Wins Bunting, and Pizza Spinner.
• NepacscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2022Blue Cabin and Nepacs partner to deliver Creative Aid, a creative programme for care-experienced young men aged 16-25 in HMP/YOI Deerbolt. Nepacs provides specialist support workers located within the prison, while Blue Cabin coordinates professional artists and programme delivery. The partnership has been running since December 2022 and received £150,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund to continue until 2027.
• Therapeutic Life Story Work InternationalsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Blue Cabin partners with Therapeutic Life Story Work International on the Creative Life Story Work programme, providing practitioners with resources and inspiration for life story work with care-experienced children.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• The Children's Society: Large national UK charity supporting disadvantaged children including care leavers. Comparable as a broad incumbent serving overlapping populations (children in care, care leavers) with creative and participation-based methodologies, though at much larger scale.
• Action for Children: One of the UK's largest children's charities, working with looked-after children, care leavers, and families. Comparable as a major incumbent delivering services to the same population Blue Cabin serves, though at substantially greater scale and with a broader portfolio.
• Roundhouse: London-based creative venue with established programmes for under-25s including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Comparable on the creative-skills-and-engagement-for-young-people axis, though Roundhouse is geographically and demographically broader than Blue Cabin's care-experienced specialism.
• The Prince's Trust: Major UK youth charity supporting disadvantaged young people into education, training, and employment. Comparable as a broad incumbent with programmes touching care leavers and creative/personal development, though its primary focus is employability rather than arts practice.
• Coram: Major UK children's charity with significant adoption, fostering, and life story work practice. Comparable because Coram's life story work and adoption work overlaps with Blue Cabin's Creative Life Story Work programme, though Coram is a much larger, broader institution.
• Tate: Major UK arts institution family (Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives) running creative learning and engagement programmes that include work with care-experienced young people. Comparable as a large incumbent in the arts-education space with overlapping target groups, though Tate's mission is gallery-led and far broader.
• National Youth Theatre: Long-established UK organisation delivering creative and theatre-based programmes for young people aged 14-25. Comparable on the creative-practice-for-young-people axis, though NYT's reach is far broader and not specifically focused on care-experienced populations.

Direct peers

• Become: National UK charity (formerly Who Cares? Trust) supporting children in care and care leavers, including through creative participation and peer programmes. Comparable because of its direct focus on the same care-experienced population Blue Cabin serves.
• Company Three: Islington-based charity and theatre company that makes work with and for care-experienced and other excluded young people. The most directly comparable peer because of overlapping mission (creative practice with looked-after children) and similar organisational scale.

Regional players

• TeesDance: Tees Valley's flagship dance charity, which Blue Cabin itself supports through sector support services. Comparable as a regional arts-charity partner in Blue Cabin's North East ecosystem delivering creative practice, though TeesDance's beneficiary group is not exclusively care-experienced.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blue-cabin
• Xx.com/wearebluecabin
• Facebookfacebook.com/wearebluecabin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Blue Cabin