Ashfield community unleashes creativity to combat violence against women

Celebrating Girl Outdoors takes place 11am – 3pm at Mill Waters (Sutton Lawn and Kings Mill Reservoir), Sutton in Ashfield and will also mark International Women’s Day.

The free event is open to everyone – people of all genders are invited to come along.

The Girl Outdoors project has been led by local charity First Art as part of the Mill Waters Next Steps project.

The project has worked to remove some of the barriers women face accessing the outdoors, to create safe, creative spaces which bring people together where conversations can open up about the experiences that impact their safety and ability to go about life.

Steph Andrews, First Art Project Coordinator and Girl Outdoors Project Lead explained: “Every girl, everyday experiences something that puts into question their safety, from inappropriate comments to sexual and violent assaults.

"When we learnt that nearly 30 per cent of young women said that their enjoyment of nature had been impacted by actual experiences of sexual harassment, we wanted to raise awareness of these issues whilst finding a positive way to address challenges to women being able to go about their life.”

The Celebrating Outdoors event will bring together all aspects of the project, from walking routes to artworks mixed with a range of fun creative activities

“We want everyone – people of all genders – to come along to the event to find out more about the project and learn more about the issues it’s tackling,” added Stephanie.

One part of the project has been Women Walking, a series of women-only creative walks around Mill Waters, led by Nottingham-based artist Amelia Daiz.

Participants were given creative challenges each walk to generate ideas to feed into artworks which visitors to the event will be able to see as part of a special guided walk. The walk follows the regular Women Walking route, starting at Sutton Lawn and finishing at Kings Mill Reservoir.

Women Walking participant, Roz said: “Women Walking has been a lifeline for me due to a specific life event, and I am grateful for it.

"Everything about it has been great: the pace of the walks, getting us thinking creatively, sitting down with warm drinks and chatting after, and benefitting from the positive effects of being outdoors in the fresh air, gentle exercise and achieving health milestones.”

Along the walk from Sutton Lawn to Kings Mill Reservoir, will be artwork created by a group of Year 6 girls from Leamington Primary Academy. Ameila worked with them to look into the future and how they would like to see and feel about green spaces like Mill Waters.

There will also be a range of activities for people to join in with, situated by the Boathouse at Kings Mill Reservoir.

The Underpass Disco, which is about reclaiming public spaces for people to feel safe in, BASH, a fun, all ability session combining self-defence with Zumba and disco, inviting participants to dance like they’re in a 1980s workout video while learning practical self-defence skills and no-nonsense safety strategies, and hands-on creative workshops making badges and magnets with the Wild! Team from Adventures, Pledge Flags and Strength Flowers with local artists Raph Achache and Sarah Taylor.

There will also be performances from Kirkby Chorus and CAN SAMBA along with other local artists.

Calico CIC, who are running the BASH workshops, will also present their installation ‘Get Home Safe'.

Emma Hancock, Mill Waters Project Manager said: “Celebrating Girl Outdoors is for everyone; we all have a valuable role to play in making the world a better place for women and girls.

“This fabulous celebration from First Art is a fun way to get outdoors at Mill Waters, get creative and get together to pledge our support to all the wonderful women and girls in our lives, who want to be respected and be safe every time they pop out to the corner shop, are out and about with friends, go out for a walk or a run and everything we all do once we step outside our own front door.”

The Mill Waters Next Steps Project is led by Ashfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, hosted by Adventures at Mill Waters and Notts Outdoors, it is supported by many wonderful community partners and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Additional funding has come from the National Lottery as part of Arts Council England Creative People and Places Programme.

Celebrating Girl Outdoors is part of National Lottery Open Week (7th-15th March). Thank you to all Lottery Players everywhere for supporting great projects like Girl Outdoors.

The Celebrating Girl Outdoors activities and performances will take place outside and near to the Boathouse at Kings Mill Reservoir 11am – 3pm, while the guided walks will start from Sutton Lawn at 11.30am and again at 1.30pm.

All the events are free of charge, and everyone is welcome to attend.

For more information about the event including times and activities, visit www.firstart.org.uk/whats_on/celebratinggirloutdoors.

More information about the Girl Outdoors Project can be found at www.firstart.org.uk/girloutdoors.