PROCESSIONS EDINBURGH
www.processions.co.uk
Find out more about the Processions at An Lanntair – http://lanntair.com/events/event/processions-suffrage-banner/
- Registration opens for PROCESSIONS – one of the UK’s largest ever mass participation artworks – which will be held across the four UK capitals to celebrate 100 years since the first British women got the vote.
- Women* and girls to gather as a ‘living portrait’ in Edinburgh on Sunday 10th June.
- 100 UK organisations – including 16 across Scotland – to create 100 unique banners for PROCESSIONS in collaboration with female artists and community groups.
Registration opens today, International Women’s Day (8th March), for PROCESSIONS, one of the UK’s largest ever mass participation artworks, which will take place simultaneously across the four UK capitals on 10th June 2018. PROCESSIONS is produced by Artichoke and commissioned by 14-18NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, and will mark one hundred years since the first British women won the right to vote.
Women and girls – including those who identify as women and non-binary individuals – are invited to register at www.processions.co.uk to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime living artwork which will celebrate a historic moment for gender equality and create a dramatic portrait of women in the 21st
century. On Sunday 10th June 2018, participants in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London will walk together in their tens of thousands. Given green, white or violet to wear, to represent the colours of the suffrage movement and standing for “Give Women Votes”, they will together appear as a vast river of colour flowing through the city streets. At the heart of each procession will be specially created banners, echoing those carried by suffrage campaigners.
*including those who identify as women and non-binary individuals
In the months leading up to PROCESSIONS, participants are invited to take part in a nationwide creative programme of banner-making workshops, or to create banners at home using a toolkit designed by contemporary banner-maker Clare Hunter which takes inspiration from a 1909 pamphlet by suffragette artist Mary Lowndes.
Clare Hunter, textile artist, writer and banner adviser for PROCESSIONS said: “I am delighted to be part of the creative team behind PROCESSIONS. Unlike the original banners, carried by women in the Scottish rallies of the early 20th century which were lost or thrown away, these banners will remain a part of history for years to come. They will be made by women of different
ages, cultures and backgrounds and represent an exciting new body of textile art, celebrating what it means to be a woman in the 21st century today.”
100 Years 100 Banners Artichoke have announced 100 organisations across the UK, including 16 Scottish organisations, who will be working with commissioned female, female-identifying and non-binary artists to create 100 unique banners for PROCESSIONS. Artists will facilitate workshops with a chosen community group or groups to create these expressive artworks, reflecting the hopes and concerns of women today. Participating artists include Iranian artist Paria Godarzi, Harris Tweed weaver and textiles historian Chris Hammacott and Glasgow-based duo Ruby Pester and Nadia Rossi.
100 Years 100 Banners partners are spread across the breadth of Scotland from the Scottish Borders to Uist and to Shetland. They encompass local and national charities and arts organisations, including the Scottish Refugee Council, Comar and The Tannahill Centre in Paisley. The workshops aim to reach a diverse body of women stretching across all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, geographies and
sexualities, with the resulting banners providing a snapshot of women’s experiences today. A number of organisations will be working with groups of women who continue to be disenfranchised in 2018, helping give a voice to women within the criminal justice system, victims of domestic abuse, homeless women, and women seeking refuge or asylum.
Edinburgh College of Art researcher, lecturer and artist Lindy Richardson, will work with Edinburgh University staff and students in collaboration with women prisoners in both HMP Edinburgh and HMP YOI Cornton Vale (Stirling). A key part of this process will be the discussions generated around the
issues of voting rights for disenfranchised groups in society along with equality and diversity issues in keeping with Athena Swan principles promoted by the University.
- HOW TO TAKE PART
Register at www.processions.co.uk to join one of the processions in Belfast,
Cardiff, Edinburgh and London on Sunday 10th June 2018. - Set up or join a public banner-making workshop. (Details on An Lanntair’s public workshops)
- Create your own banner at home using the PROCESSIONS toolkit
- Spread the word using #PROCESSIONS2018
100 Years 100 Banners
Artichoke have announced 100 organisations across the UK, including 16 Scottish organisations, who will be working with commissioned female, female-identifying and non-binary artists to create 100 unique banners for PROCESSIONS. Artists will facilitate workshops with a chosen community group or groups to create these expressive artworks, reflecting the hopes and concerns of women today. Participating artists include Iranian artist Paria Godarzi, Harris Tweed weaver and textiles historian Chris Hammacott and Glasgow-based duo Ruby Pester and Nadia Rossi.
100 Years 100 Banners partners are spread across the breadth of Scotland from the Scottish Borders to Uist and to Shetland. They encompass local and national charities and arts organisations, including the Scottish Refugee Council, Comar and The Tannahill Centre in Paisley. The workshops aim to reach a diverse body of women stretching across all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, geographies and sexualities, with the resulting banners providing a snapshot of women’s experiences today. A number of organisations will be working with groups of women who continue to be disenfranchised in 2018, helping give a voice to women within the criminal justice system, victims of domestic abuse, homeless women, and women seeking refuge or asylum.
Edinburgh College of Art researcher, lecturer and artist Lindy Richardson, will work with Edinburgh University staff and students in collaboration with women prisoners in both HMP Edinburgh and HMP YOI Cornton Vale (Stirling). A key part of this process will be the discussions generated around the issues of voting rights for disenfranchised groups in society along with equality and diversity issues in keeping with Athena Swan principles promoted by the University.
Glasgow Women’s Library are working with print artist Helen de Main and local women from across Glasgow to create a banner for PROCESSIONS. They will also be working with the Scottish Refugee Council, another 100 Years 100 Banners partner, to support a discussion and banner-making session with women from the refugee community in Glasgow, working with Iranian artist Paria Goodarzi.
Meanwhile in Stornoway An Lanntair is working with Harris Tweed weaver and textiles historian Chris Hammacott and the Western Isles Women’s Network to produce a banner representing Island Women. Their workshops will coincide with the touring of new play Deeds not Words in collaboration with theatre company Rural Nations exploring the role of Hebridean women in the suffrage
movement.
Further projects include:
● An Talla Solais (Ullapool) will work with textile artist and storyteller Lizzie McDougall, and women from a range of backgrounds who have shown drive, tenacity and creativity in achieving their respective positions. Each participant will also bring a family member or friend to create a cross-generational group, reflective of the diversity of the centre’s members.
● Arts in Merkinch (Inverness) are working with artist Heidi Soos, members of community knitting group Blazing Needles, multicultural sewing group Common Threads and members of
other health focused support projects.
● Comar (Isle of Mull) will support artist, designer and curator Alicia Hendrick to work with an inter-generational group drawn from the rural communities and schools on Mull and Iona.
● Eastgate Theatre in Peebles in the Scottish Borders will work with local artist Deborah Campbell alongside members of the Air Maiden women’s biking group, Peebles High School students, the local Guiding Association, and members of the U3A to create their textile banner.
● Horsecross Arts (Perth) will be delivering banner making workshops throughout April and May in the newly reopened Perth Theatre. Visual artists Pester and Rossi will lead a creative collaboration with participants from across Perth and Kinross.
● Luminate, Scotland’s creative ageing organisation (Edinburgh) will work with artist and jeweller Fiona Hermse in Dunbar, East Lothian, with older women who are living with dementia or who are carers.
● Macrobert Arts Centre will work with renowned textile artist Nadine Gorency and a range of community groups from across the Forth Valley region. Nadine runs award-winning upcycling project ‘Rags to Riches’ and has extensive experience of community engagement.
● National Theatre Scotland’s Learning Team will work with artist Ana Inés Jabares-Pita and women’s groups from Possilpark, close to their headquarters in North Glasgow.
● Project Ability (Glasgow) will work with Argyll based textile artist Sandi Kiehlmann and women with learning disabilities and women with long term and enduring mental ill health who regularly attend their workshops and visual arts programmes.
● Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre (North Uist) will work with artist Deirdre Nelson and various women’s groups, art students and schools on the island, to create and contribute to multiple textile banners which they will bring to Edinburgh in June.
● The Tannahill Centre’s banner (Paisley) will be made in collaboration with SWIFT (Strong Women in Ferguslie Together), The Feegie Needlers and young women from youth groups who are not yet old enough to vote. The banner will be co-designed by artist Mandy McIntosh with this core coalition, then the stitching and fabrication will open up to a wider community of
women who want to participate. Within the context of Ferguslie Park, the banner will focus on social justice and routes out of poverty for women, celebrating the resilience and strength of Ferguslie women in the here and now.
● Scottish Refugee Council have commissioned Iranian artist Paria Godarzi who will work with women from refugee communities in Glasgow. They will also collaborate with UK artist Helen de Main and Glasgow Women’s Library to support discussion and banner-making sessions as part of the process.
● Shetland Arts Development Agency will work with emerging artist Christina Inkster to Celebrate, Commemorate and Collaborate with women and women’s groups in Shetland. She will accompany a group of participants on the 350 mile journey from Shetland to Edinburgh to take part in the procession.
A full list of the 100 organisations across the UK will be available at www.processions.co.uk.
The project has been made possible with support from a Scottish Government grant to Creative Scotland.
Claire Byers, Interim Director, Arts and Engagement, Creative Scotland said:
“We are delighted to support the Scottish programme of PROCESSIONS, a project of great historic significance and social impact. In echoing the practices of the women’s suffrage campaign, the collective banner-making workshops and procession have the power to serve as a live portrait of modern women, and a visual expression of equality, diversity, and inclusion in contemporary
Scotland. The programme will also provide a long-lasting creative legacy for the participating women, girls and communities.”
For more information contact Emma Henderson emma@pi-communications.co.uk, 07977134614, 0131 3461184 or Alice Clifford at Flint PR (0) 203 463 2087, (0) 7913 330 408, alice.clifford@flintpr.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
14-18 NOW
14-18 NOW is a programme of extraordinary arts experiences connecting people with the First World War, as part of the UK’s official centenary commemorations. It commissions new work by leading contemporary artists across all art forms; the programme has included over 200 artists from 35 countries, with commissions taking place in 160 locations across the UK. Over 30 million people have experienced a project so far, including 7.5 million children and young people. 16.7million people took part in LIGHTS OUT in 2014, and 63% of the population were aware of Jeremy Deller’s 2016 work
‘We’re here because we’re here’. The UK tour of the iconic poppy sculptures by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper have been seen by over 3.5 million people to date. 14-18 NOW has won many awards for its work, including the National Lottery Heritage Award 2017, a Museums Heritage
Award and the Chairman’s Award at The Drum Social Buzz Awards 2016. It is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and by additional fundraising.
www.1418now.org.uk
Artichoke
Producers of extraordinary live events, Artichoke is one of the country’s leading creative companies and is a registered charity, funded by Arts Council England. At Artichoke, we use art to undermine the mundane and disrupt the everyday, and create a new kind of world that we’d all like to live in. Our
previous projects include Royal de Luxe’s The Sultan’s Elephant, which brought an estimated one million people onto the streets of London in 2006; La Machine’s 50-foot high mechanical spider for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008; Antony Gormley’s One & Other 100-day-long invasion of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London in 2009; and Deborah Warner’s commission for the London 2012 Festival with Fiona Shaw, Peace Camp, a nationwide celebration of landscape and poetry, which took place across eight separate sites around the UK; Temple by David Best in Derry~Londonderry, attended by more than 75,000 people; and London’s Burning, a festival to
commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London in September 2016. Artichoke creates and produces Lumiere, the UK’s largest light festival, which has been staged in Durham every two years since 2009; in Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland as part of the celebrations for City of Culture 2013, and in London in January 2016 and January 2018.
www.artichoke.uk.com
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the
Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please
visit www.creativescotland.com.
Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland