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We have been putting sustainability at the forefront of our conversations this year, and recently developed our own Sustainability Policy, with thanks to our Sustainability Intern Anna Barrett from Durham University.
Anna has contributed a guest post to our Directors Blog, to illustrate what has been going on behind the (green) scenes!
Over the past five months whist completing an MSc at Durham University I have had the opportunity to become a sustainability intern at Changing Relations. I’ve loved this opportunity and found it a really rewarding experience.
As sustainability intern, my work centred around trying to better the sustainability of the organisation and ensure environmentally focused thinking became the norm in every aspect of Changing Relations’ work. In order to do this, I began carrying out research into sustainability in general, looking at large organisations that are leading the way in terms of sustainability, and then seeing how these steps translate into the work of smaller organisations that are more of a similar size to Changing Relations. I spent time with Artistic Director Polly, going through the sustainable steps she already takes, and we talked a lot about how to make sure that these became standard practice throughout the team rather than just steps that she does. This also involved assessing the work environment in the office, and reviewing the resources and materials regularly used to see whether we could swap out options for more sustainable alternatives.
It was also really important to Polly and Lisa that we made sure sustainability became a central value of the organisation rather than just something added on, so I spent time working on ways to embed sustainability throughout the whole organisation. This involved work such as drafting sections for artists contracts focusing on sustainability, and drafting text that could be included in art packs which discussed the sustainable nature of the products and encouraged the recipient to recycle, reuse and repurpose the contents where possible. By the end of my project, I had created a Sustainability Policy and other work to support this including a Sustainable Induction for new starters and current team members to demonstrate the importance of sustainability to the organisation. Through this work not only were my research skills considerably strengthened, but I also gained further appreciation for the importance of sustainable thinking and the steps that we can all take to do our part.
One of the personal objectives I hoped to accomplish whilst undertaking my internship was to improve my confidence in communication skills, particularly presenting. I was given the chance to present my work at a Board Meeting at the end of my internship and despite initial nerves I accepted the invitation and received positive feedback which definitely boosted my confidence.
Overall I just want to say thank you to the team at Changing Relations and to the Careers and Enterprise team at the University for setting up such a positive and valuable experience for me. To be able to develop my employability at such a thriving and socially aware organisation only bettered the experience, and I felt welcomed, supported and empowered by the team at Changing Relations.
Thank you, Anna! Your work was fantastic and we enjoyed having you as a part of our team.
If you're interested to know HOW sustainability has been weaved through our organisation, take a look at our highlights video.
During my internship at Changing Relations, I had the honour of interviewing Sheryl, an artist with a passion for stop-motion animation and co-creation practices. She tells stories with her fingertips and uses animation as a tool to express social issues, injecting new perspectives and inspirations for my future video production.
What does it take to bring still images to life—and use them to spark meaningful conversation?
That’s what I wanted to explore in my interview with Sheryl, an animator whose passion for hands-on storytelling and community collaboration animates every frame of her work. From childhood experiments with flipbooks to complex projects tackling serious topics, Sheryl’s journey reveals a deep love for process, play, and people.
From Flipbooks to Frames: A Lifelong Love for Animation
Sheryl’s earliest experiments in animation go way back. “When I was about four, I had a book for Christmas with pictures in the corner, and when I flicked through it—magic. It was amazing.” This sense of wonder still fuels her today. “Even though I know how it works, I’m constantly going, man, how does that thing? It’s just amazing.” Her work spans everything from school workshops and community projects to installations and festivals. But whatever the setting, one thing remains: “I like to be hands-on, and I like to be involved in the process.”Craft over Code: The Animator’s Presence
While she’s no stranger to digital tools, Sheryl prefers an organic, tactile approach. “I have a bit of a love-hate thing with technology,” she says. “I like to be able to see an animator was present… you can see fingerprints in the plasticine.”
For Sheryl, the charm of animation lies in its imperfections—and in the passion of its creators. “I just love seeing people passionate about their thing, their style, their characters.”
Telling Tough Stories with Tenderness
Sheryl doesn’t shy away from serious subjects. In fact, she believes animation is uniquely suited to tackle them. “It gives people a distance from things,” she explains. “People can tell their story without feeling too much in the spotlight.” One of her most powerful projects explored a young person’s experience with domestic violence. “They created the visuals, they recorded the voiceover—it’s intense, it’s amazing. I wish more people could see it.” She sees animation as a bridge: “It allows a story to be told in any way you can imagine… It’s a way to make complex topics easier to digest.”Collaboration as Core Practice
Whether in a school or studio, Sheryl thrives on shared creativity. “Co-production, to me, is about exchanging skills,” she says. “You bring people forward… then you’re working together on a similar footing.”
Every session is an opportunity for mutual learning. “As soon as I’m going in, I’m like, what do you want to do? What are your ideas? Let’s do it.”
Animating Across Generations and Platforms
Sheryl’s work has taken her from nurseries to care homes, youth centers to prisons. She’s animated stories on climate change, identity, culture, and beyond. And when it comes to reaching audiences? “TikTok is fast and throwaway. Instagram has more story. YouTube is where I get the most engagement,” she says. “People also love behind-the-scenes stuff. They want to know the process.” For Sheryl, animation is never just about the end product. “I find it frustrating that I can never quite capture the process,” she admits. “I wish people could see how it all came together.”Art, Emotion, Connection
Each animation Sheryl creates—whether with schoolchildren or in collaboration with refugee communities—carries a bit of that early magic, curiosity, and care.
“I think everyone just likes to play,” she tells me. “No matter what the age.”
Sheryl’s love for the ‘magic’ of animation made me realise the infinite possibilities of video creation. Her experience in using animation to address heavy topics has helped me to place more emphasis on emotional expression and collaboration in video production, and to explore the value of visual narratives in social inclusion. This has given me unlimited inspiration and encouragement for my future career plan in the creative production industry.Thank you Skyler for this super interview and to Sheryl for creating our wonderful Weaving Stories animation! Continue reading
For the last few months, we’ve been supported by a third year undergraduate Visual Arts and Film student at Durham University, Skyler Niu. As part of her placement with us, she interviewed our Artistic Director Kate Gorman about what it means to be a Creative Producer of one of our projects. Here’s what she had to say:
What does a creative producer really do behind the scenes?
In this interview, I set out to better understand the daily rhythms, values, and challenges of working as a creative producer on socially engaged art projects. I spoke with Kate, who brings a wealth of experience not only from the creative sector but also from a previous career in accounting and project management. Her role is much more than managing timelines—it’s about care, coordination, and holding space for collaboration.
A Gentle Juggler: Holding Space for Everyone
Kate describes herself as someone who didn’t follow a traditional path into creative production. “I ended up here by accident,” she tells me. “There was a project that I really wanted to do, and the way to make it happen was for me to be the creative producer, so I did.” It turned out to be a “vertical learning cliff,” but one that she wholeheartedly embraced.
Despite being relatively new to the title of creative producer, Kate brings a deeply human-centered approach. “I believe strongly in a care-based approach to creative production,” she says. “I try really hard to make sure that I’m considering all the people around me and making sure that their needs are met.”
From managing multiple stakeholders—schools, funders, youth groups, creative practitioners—to ensuring each voice is heard, Kate views her role as a kind of emotional and logistical weaver. “It becomes a little mini ecosystem,” she explains. “I guess it’s kind of something around being able to hold space well… and I think I can juggle lots of ideas and synthesize lots of information.”
Image created by Associate Artist Megan Watson.
Balancing Artistry, Impact, and Inclusion
For Kate, producing socially engaged projects isn’t about art for art’s sake. “I’m really only interested in doing socially engaged practice,” she says. “I’m interested in the platform [art] gives to people to explore their thoughts and their feelings and their beliefs and their ideas.”
Co-production is a fundamental part of her approach. She sees herself not as the one delivering content directly to young people, but as the one facilitating and supporting creative practitioners who do: “They all have skills that I don’t have. You know, I can’t draw. I’m not a writer. I’m not a musician. But I get to help them create and shape what they’re trying to do.”
Reflecting, Adapting, Learning
Each day is filled with decision-making, debriefs, and sometimes necessary shifts. “There are some things which are really difficult to balance,” Kate admits. “And then maybe the thing is, is that you stop doing them or you work out what needs to be changed to get them to balance.”
Kate’s reflections extend beyond project timelines. She views each ending as an emotional experience. “It’s like a grieving process when you come to the end,” she shares. “In my head, I’m still in the project, and it’s only when I reach the end of it that I’m ready to kind of grieve for that end point.”
From Project Management to Creative Impact
With roots in international finance and project delivery, Kate is keenly aware of how her skills translate across industries. “Project management is project management wherever you’re doing it,” she notes, yet she adds that creative producing allows her to infuse personal, emotional, and social dimensions into that framework.
Kate’s day-to-day may look like spreadsheets, phone calls, and debriefs—but at its heart, it’s about making space for transformation: “It’s just wonderful,” she says. “That thing where it’s about making a difference to people—yeah. That’s what I love.”
From this interview, I learnt the importance of the producer ‘holding space’ in the team. At the time of the interview, I was in the process of taking on the role of producer on my own film production team, so this interview gave me inspiration and motivated me. Through my interaction with Kate, I realised that a producer is not only a schedule manager, but also a companion to the team’s growth. Her caring approach has inspired me to be more mindful of my producing duties in my modules and has laid the cornerstone of human care for my future move into the video production industry.
Thanks so much to Skyler (pictured front right in the image above) for this lovely interview.
Thanks also to Lizzie Lovejoy for the gorgeous illustration of Kate featured with this post.
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Originally posted on LinkedIn by Artistic Director Kate Gorman between 30 July 2024 and 6 February 2025
Exploring the Power of “Uncomfortable”
I’m currently producing Changing Relations C.I.C.’s Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse project. With young people at Parkview School in Chester-le-Street, our creative team has been exploring the behaviors linked to this that make them feel “uncomfortable” (whether that is in school or beyond).
It’s an innocuous word, right?
But input from our academic evaluator Janelle Rabe suggested it was a powerful word to use with the young people, that it would open up discussions…
And she was right.
Young people talked about people smiling at them. Young people talked about people staring at them. Whistles. Inappropriate comments. Name-calling. Requesting nude pictures be sent.
All within the frame of things that make them feel “uncomfortable.”
I’m so glad we didn’t use the term “low level,” which is how Ofsted describes some of the sexual attitudes and behaviors in schools that can tend to be overlooked.
Which of these things wouldn’t have come up if we had? Which of these things don’t matter? Which of these things would the young people working with us have felt they “ought” not to admit to bothering them, even though they do?
Creativity, Consent, and the Making of an Animation
Young people and the power of creativity never cease to amaze me.
I’ve been waiting to be able to write this post. I’ve waited because I needed to have the consent of the young people who created this animation. Conceptually, I could just have shared it without asking—many people do this…presume consent. But what is the message that I give if I presume consent?
Consent is so often discussed in a purely sexual context – but we experience and learn about consent in our everyday encounters in a hugely powerful way. Our everyday encounters with consent (whether that is being made to hug someone we don’t want to as a child or being pressured into doing something by our friends) inform our understanding and capacity for consent in a sexual context.
So, I didn’t just share this animation. I waited for consent. The team made it clear that the young people were absolutely allowed to say that they didn’t want the animation to be shared and that that was absolutely fine. But I’m very glad that they did allow me to share it.
So….week 2 of a project looking at young people’s experience of peer sexual abuse. Facilitator Sheryl Jenkins introduces the groups of students from Parkview School who are participating in the Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse project to some stop-start animation software and some “kit.” They muck around experimenting for a bit and then move on to thinking about creating a mini animation about behaviors that make them feel uncomfortable. Half an hour later, we have some cracking animations of which this is a brilliant example…
The power of creativity…look what rolled off their imaginations grounded in their experiences…I was chilled the first time I saw it (maybe the second too). I can’t wait to watch their journey as they continue working on the project in the autumn.
Co-Production in Action: The Script That Speaks the Truth
Working on a co-production project takes time.
A lot of time.
But we’re now in the midst of key project points where you can see things coming together on Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse – the project I’m currently working on for Changing Relations C.I.C.
I love it when you reach this stage. My tummy stops rumbling with quite so many anxious “what ifs” and starts to bubble with excitement instead.
A few weeks ago, we shared a draft script for our animation with the young people who are working with us. The script is entirely fictional, but the young people were clear that it felt true to them.
Comments included:
- “This is the most accurate thing I have ever read.”
- “The characters feel like real people I know.”
- “Not only are the people fake, they are real.”
Participating students, school staff, academic researchers, and our partners at RSACC all told us that the script reflected young people’s experiences.
This is the power of co-production. The script reflects young people’s experiences because they have been involved in shaping it. Our super talented creative team (Sheryl Jenkins, Izaak Gledhill, Bridie Jackson, Zoe Murtagh, and Tracy Thomas) have created an environment that has enabled the young people involved to tell it how it really is. And wow, have they told it how it is.
I’m so excited to share the other things that have been and are taking shape over the next few weeks!
Illustrating the Stories: The Journey from Sketch to Screen
It starts with a screenshot.
I know…
This sounds like it could end so badly.
In a project about peer sexual abuse among teenagers, “it starts with a screenshot” is a loaded sentence full of the foreboding of intimate image sharing.
However, in this case, “it starts with a screenshot” is full of excitement and anticipation.
Back in September, the young people involved in Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse shortlisted illustrators for the project team to recruit from. They had some interesting insights and were pretty aligned in who they felt we should interview (and actually who their favorite illustrator was, on paper).
Following interviews, we chose to work with Tom Kindley (also the “paper” favorite of the young people), and he subsequently facilitated a couple of sessions with them to get a feel of how they wanted the characters in the animation to appear. He was a big hit and drew out some cool, occasionally contradictory, and sometimes exceedingly specific ideas and visions. Some of the ideas also represent very powerful perspectives on the script, and I look forward to seeing these put into action.
Tom then disappeared from sight until we got our first images of what he was developing pinging through on email and WhatsApp.
You see…
It starts with a screenshot…
…and then quite a lot more of them!
The Final Reveal: Seeing Their Work Come to Life
On Friday, we shared the final animation from Weaving Stories with the students at Park View School who have so wholeheartedly created it with us.
I loved watching their shy smiles, outright grins, nudges, and quiet comments as they watched the animation. You could see them picking out the things that they had directly created and the things they had influenced. But more than that, you could see the “Ohhhhhhhh” as the overall impact hit them.
Although they’ve been involved in every single step of its production (including giving advice and feeding back on draft versions of the animation), seeing a final thing is a completely different experience. I think that this is the first time that they really had the emotional hit—both of the impact the animation has on an audience and the “Wow! We did something that good!”
What Schools Are Up Against
It was interesting for us to read Anna Fazackerley’s recent article in The Guardian about peer sexual violence in schools (https://lnkd.in/gKnfRSmf)…
About its prevalence.
About specialist organisations (such as Rape Crisis England & Wales) flagging the need for schools to receive much clearer guidance on how to deal with peer sexual abuse effectively.
About Paul Whiteman of the NAHT – The school leaders’ union saying that schools need high-quality training and sufficient services to turn to for advice.
It made us think of all the conversations we’ve had during the project…
With the young people for whom abusive behavior is entirely normalized.
With teachers working both with people who have been harmed and who have harmed.
With some of the brilliant academics working in this field.
With counselors supporting those who have been sexually abused by their peers.
With parents of those who have been sexually abused.
Everyone is ultimately asking for the same thing: for young people who have been harmed to be better cared for and for more effective ways of preventing the harm from happening to start with.
A Project Made Possible by Collaboration
Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse is a Changing Relations C.I.C. project in partnership with Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre – Darlington and Co. Durham and Parkview School. We’re hugely grateful for funding and support from:
- VISION team at City St George’s, University of London
- Arts Council England
- People’s Postcode Lottery
- The National Lottery Community Fund
This project has been made possible by their support—and by the courage, creativity, and voices of the young people who brought it to life.
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By Agnibeena Ghosh
When I first started my placement at Changing Relations C.I.C., I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I was eager to put my marketing knowledge into practice, but I didn’t realize just how much I would learn—not just about marketing, but also about teamwork, problem-solving, and the power of effective communication. Over the course of my time there, I got hands-on experience in event management, content creation, and customer relationship management (CRM), all of which gave me a glimpse into the fast-paced and dynamic world of marketing.
Bringing an Event to Life: The Changing Relations Auction
One of the most exciting parts of my placement was being involved in the Changing Relations Auction. I played an active role in setting up the event, coordinating logistics, handling guest interactions, and managing payments. It was a whirlwind of activity, requiring me to think on my feet, stay organized, and work closely with the team to ensure everything ran smoothly.
What stood out to me the most was how much goes on behind the scenes of an event. From keeping track of financial transactions to making sure guests had a seamless experience, every little detail mattered. I quickly learned the importance of clear communication and staying calm under pressure—especially when unexpected challenges arose. By the end of the event, I had developed a newfound appreciation for event management and the level of effort it takes to pull off a successful gathering.
Finding My Voice Through Writing
Writing has always been something I’ve enjoyed, but during my placement, I had the chance to develop this skill in a professional setting. I contributed blog posts and articles for the News & Events section of the website and formatted LinkedIn posts for the Director’s Blog. Each piece required careful research and attention to detail, ensuring that the content was engaging, relevant, and aligned with Changing Relations’ mission.
One of the biggest takeaways from this experience was understanding how digital content needs to be structured. It should not only capture the reader’s attention but also formatted to enhance its visibility online. Learning about search engine optimization (SEO) and refining my writing style to maximize clarity and impact was incredibly rewarding. By the end of my placement, I felt much more confident in my ability to create content that resonates with an audience.
Making Sense of Data: CRM and Stakeholder Management
Before this placement, I never thought much about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into managing relationships with stakeholders. Working with the CRM showed me just how crucial data management is in marketing. My role involved organizing and refining stakeholder data, ensuring records were up to date, and conducting research to gather relevant information.
At first, it felt a bit overwhelming—there was so much to keep track of! But as I got more familiar with the system, I started to see the bigger picture. Keeping well-maintained records isn’t just about organization. It is also about ensuring that marketing efforts are targeted, strategic, and effective. Analyzing stakeholder data helped me understand how businesses tailor their communication to different audiences. I also learned how CRM tools can streamline marketing campaigns by providing insights into customer behavior and preferences. Accuracy was key, as even small errors could affect outreach efforts. Over time, I became more confident in handling data and saw how efficient database management contributes to long-term business growth. This experience gave me a real appreciation for the role of CRM in audience engagement and business development.
Looking Back on an Incredible Experience
Reflecting on my time at Changing Relations, I can confidently say that this placement has been one of the most valuable experiences in my professional journey so far. I didn’t just learn technical marketing skills—I also grew as a communicator, a problem-solver, and a team player.
This experience reinforced my passion for marketing. It showed me how even small tasks contribute to a larger strategy. I’m incredibly grateful to the team at Changing Relations for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to develop my skills in such a supportive environment. I know that everything I’ve learned here will stay with me as I take the next steps in my career.
I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me next!
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Originally posted on Changing Relations C.I.C’s LinkedIn between 16 September 2024 and 20 September 2024
It matters that we grow and nurture a core of specialists and explore the frameworks which can support them.
Why Do We Care?
Care is a really important topic for us. It’s at the heart of all we do. Over the course of this week, we’ll be posting a series of pieces written by our Associate Artist Katharine Goda on the theme of care.
Thank you, Katharine, for your thoughtful words.
Defining Care in Creative Practice
The word ‘care’ comes from voice – to call, to cry, to chatter. But we don’t. Chat about it. We know intuitively what it means: clear safeguarding procedures and leads; signposting towards extra support in and beyond school; consistent facilitators; voluntary participation; creating a space where everyone can contribute – through a carefully considered gender balance, valuing creative and thematic motivations for participating, and a prosocial model which builds confidence and agency. But we rarely talk about what care might mean among creative practitioners and producers.
Changing Relations works with a diverse range of creatives who are excellent at what they do. Part of this is down to who they are and the skills they’ve developed through experience. But what is it that’s special in how we work with each other and young people that keeps everyone safe and creates a space where everyone is able to engage with really challenging topics?
The creative health sector is expanding rapidly, with a limited pool of practitioners – often linked to really dedicated smaller organisations – who can do this work. It matters that we grow and nurture a core of specialists and explore the frameworks which can support them. So what might care mean among creative practitioners and producers? That would be something worth chatting about.
Image credit: Lou Brown from a series commissioned for our What’s All The Fuss About? newspaper.
How Do We Care?
For Changing Relations, care is an active process, embodying the values we believe in. Each project begins with a meeting where each person talks about how they work best. This isn’t just about being an organisation which recognises, takes an interest in and values neurodiversity, but also about embracing the idea that everyone has preferences and areas they find difficult. Before the first participants’ session is even planned, the whole team gathers together to clarify what’s important in the project, how we want the young people to feel and how we might create an environment that fosters this for everyone.
Building a Culture of Support
As well as the care and flexibility around how people work together, when difficult situations arise these are underpinned by a culture of support. Dealing with disclosures is not rare because the arts often facilitate p
eople to talk about things they might never have voiced, and – while creative practitioners remind people there are alternatives to discussion in a group setting – sometimes a gate will be opened. After listening to something so powerful, support is vital to make sure everyone is safe.
All the creative practitioners and Kate Gorman, as Creative Producer, have group sessions with Sue Spencer, an experienced supervisor, former nurse and academic, covering thematic issues and the highs and lows of working as a team. For freelancers used to being alone, this can fundamentally change their approach to – and feelings about – a project. This is echoed by the approach to care which Kate brings from past roles as an accountant – if a facilitator is nervous or needs an extra person, she will always offer to be there. This strong sense of shared responsibility and care is key to Changing Relations as an organisation, their ways of working mirroring the values they hold and speak up for.
Image credit: Lizzie Lovejoy, who we commissioned to illustrate our soundscape Us Too.
The Power of Openness in Leadership
It’s not just the big stuff which matters – the everyday counts too. At the end of every participant session, the team explore what’s worked well, what hasn’t and why. As Creative Producer, Kate Gorman checks in with each individual, an opportunity which normalises bringing up things that need to be addressed before they have the chance to become a problem. This willingness to be open about vulnerability is key in keeping both people and project safe. Many organisations do a great job of caring for creative practitioners but what marks Changing Relations out is its care for the Creative Producer who supports each creative practitioner and maintains an overview of the project. Beyond supervision, Lisa Charlotte Davis contacts Kate often to ask how she’s doing and what she needs.
Vulnerability as a Vital Enabler
Working with people around such difficult issues and experiences is challenging, and it’s easy to think about what you’re doing wrong or missing instead of everything you’re getting right. It’s tempting as a creative producer to feel you have to be the one holding everything together, that for the team to feel confident you need to keep yourself apart and stay silent about issues or problems. Instead, Kate makes a deliberate effort to remind herself it’s important to be allowed to make mistakes and have feelings – that this neither undermines the team’s confidence in her nor changes her ability to be an excellent creative producer.
Actually, seeming invincible benefits no-one – how can people ask for help from someone who’s apparently perfect? Modelling getting things wrong and asking for honest feedback or help when things are hard makes the team stronger. Since everyone is key to the success of the project, it makes sense that encouragement and trust flow both ways: ‘You’ll pull it off. You always do’.
Image credit: Lizzie Lovejoy, commissioned as part of our Us Too soundscape project.
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Director’s Blog- Originally posted on LinkedIn on November 20, 2024 by Managing Director Lisa Charlotte Davis
Why Positive Male Role Models Matter
I love that this year’s International Men’s Day is focused on Positive Male Role Models, and I want to write a post celebrating one of the fab men who has supported Changing Relations C.I.C. pretty much since day dot.
But first, some context as to why we need positive male role models.
The image below is a work-in-progress textile piece co-produced by our former Artistic Director Pollyanna Turner with boys at King James I Academy. This piece developed from our Men’s Voices exhibition several years ago as we explored the mental health connotations of being a man in a society that expects you to “man up.” The lone figure in the artwork reflects how this expectation can create a deeply isolating experience.
This perception was reinforced during the consultation phase of our current Groundwork North East & Cumbria project. When we asked several boys whether youth violence was more common between boys, between girls, or between both, one boy replied:
“Mostly lads. Lads go through more stuff. Feel they can’t talk to no one. By yourself the whole time. Only way to release emotion is anger.”
For many reasons, this highlights how urgently we need to help young men understand that they don’t have to conform to damaging masculinity norms that pressure them to suppress their emotions.
The Power of Positive Male Role Models
One powerful way to challenge these harmful norms is through positive male role models — men who demonstrate emotional openness and empathy.
These are men who are willing to show sadness as well as anger. Men who talk openly about their mental health, seek support when they need it, and encourage others to do the same. Men who take an active role in co-parenting. Men who offer support when others show emotion or express difficulty rather than turning away in discomfort.
Simply being that kind of person can empower others to feel safe doing the same.
And so, for being “Mr Empath” this week, and for being a fab male role model in so many ways, this is a shout-out to our long-term Associate Artist, Rupert Philbrick.
You are fab! Thank you for being you.
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Director’s Blog- Originally posted on LinkedIn on December 3, 2024 by Managing Director Lisa Charlotte Davis
I’ve been reflecting on Gregg Wallace the last few days. I mean, haven’t we all?! I’ve seen some absolutely fantastic responses from male allies and “women of a certain age” who have taken to the waves to protest!
In reading the extract below this morning, my thoughts turned to the lovely young men we engaged with at Northumbria University on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women as part of a focus group with Cassandra Jones –
“Kirsty Wark, the former Newsnight host, described how when she was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011, she complained to the production company about the show’s co-presenter Gregg Wallace. She thought a sexualised monologue he delivered early one morning on set was so ill-judged that it made her angry, and worried that staff on short-term contracts would not feel able to object.”
Awareness and the Power of Perception
We shared statistics with the young men that absolutely blew their minds:
- 86% of 18-24 year old women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space (UN Women UK).
- 9 in 10 girls have experienced sexist name-calling or been sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos (Ofsted).
Comments in the room indicated their realisation that, if this was the prevalence, there must be men they knew who engaged in such behaviour. They were a little foxed that they hadn’t seen it or realised it, which very much marries with Ofsted’s finding of a huge disparity in perceptions of prevalence between boys and girls.
What also became evident was their lack of awareness of the impact of “low level” behaviour on women and girls. And this is where Wallace dismissing “women of a certain age” and Wark’s determination to speak out for those who didn’t feel able to is relevant.
Our Weaving Stories teen participants have flagged the extent to which the drip-drip of so-called “low level” behaviour and “banter” creates a backdrop in which sexual abuse takes place.
It’s not that you “can’t say anything to women these days.”
But we do need more men to switch on their spidey senses and notice the “banter” that might actually be deeply uncomfortable for women, or indeed feel threatening when, on the receiving end, you just don’t know what that unchallenged “low level” behaviour could lead to.
Kudos to Kirsty Wark for using the greater confidence of her status as a “middle aged woman of a certain age” — or, we could also say, a respected, established professional — to protect those who silently, uncomfortably, put up with deeply inappropriate stories, questions and physical displays.
Image credit: Bettie Hope Hanley commissioned for our What’s All the Fuss About? art-filled newspaper
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Director’s Blog- Originally posted on LinkedIn on December 18, 2024 by Artistic Director Kate Gorman
How are Christmas and football matches the same?
They both cause a rise in the incidence of domestic violence.
A truth we would never want to find in our Christmas dinner cracker, but which sadly many people won’t be able to avoid this Christmas.
In the midst of seasonal festivities (and life in general) it is easy to ignore warning signs of domestic abuse.
Easy to not say anything because we feel we don’t know what to say.
Easy to not say anything because we are worried about how to deal with what someone might say back to us.
Easy to not say anything when we see someone behaving abusively because we’re scared that we might make things worse… or because we’re scared of what the abuser might do to us.
Empowering Communities to Act
In partnership with Creative Youth Opportunities CIC, Groundwork North East & Cumbria, Blackhall Community Centre (Alison Paterson) and No More Nowt, Changing Relations C.I.C. is currently developing a project called “Don’t Look Away.” This initiative aims to support local communities in confidently identifying signs of domestic abuse, encouraging people to take action, provide appropriate support, and signpost individuals to specialist services.
While this project won’t be in place for this Christmas, we look forward to seeing its positive impact on people’s lives in the future.
In the meantime, if you are worried about someone this festive period, the free online resources created by WWIN Domestic Abuse Services may be helpful: www.wefindaway.org.uk
Survivors we have worked with over the years have always expressed gratitude to the people who were brave enough to reach out to them.
Don’t Look Away.
Image credit: Jayne Johnson, created during an artist-in-residency at Blackhall Community Centre as part of our community consultation to shape the Don’t Look Away project.
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Director’s Blog- Originally posted on LinkedIn on February 14, 2025 by Artistic Director Kate Gorman
The Birth of Art Whispers
Last year I trialled a project that I’ve been dreaming about for ages. It was just for fun: for me and the people taking part.
I am really curious about how inspiration and ideas spread between artists and the conversation that this can stimulate. And so, I kicked off Art Whispers…along with some artists who fancied playing too.
Art Whispers starts with an artist being given a prompt. They then create an artwork in response to the prompt. This artist then shares their artwork with the next artist who creates their own artwork in response to it… and so on… and so on.
At the end we all came together and shared the artwork: everyone seeing the pieces (except their own and the preceding one) for the first time. It was fascinating seeing how ideas developed; what people had taken from each other; what was lost, gained, refined, developed…
A Creative Producer at Heart
One of the gifts it gave me was consolidating that I really am a Creative Producer at heart. I was meant to take part as an artist, creating one of the “whispers,” but things happened causing a delay and there ended up not being time for me to do it. But I wasn’t disappointed. I was surprised I wasn’t. It made me realise that my fun and play was the making it happen.
Excitingly I’ve just kicked off another Art Whispers with a whole load of artists — some of whom I know, some of whom I don’t. They also sit across a variety of practices… we have visual artists, poets, musicians. This time there are enough people participating for the project to last a whole year.
My task now is to ponder how we will all share our whispers… can’t wait to play 😊
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Director’s Blog- Originally posted on LinkedIn on March 2nd, 2025 by Managing Director Lisa Charlotte Davis
The Tension Between Self and Mask
I’ve talked about congruency of mission with process/collaborators and have been meaning to follow up with a reflection on personal congruency.
What does this even mean?
I came across a nice articulation in a Guardian interview with Coralie Fargeat, writer-director of the body horror film, The Substance:
“The self resents the mask for suffocating it; the mask is disgusted by the self. This distinction between who you really are & who you’re trying to be, that’s what creates the real violence. That’s what creates the disconnection with yourself. Everything you do to try to look some other way creates two selves; & there will always be this fear that your real self is going to find a way to be seen.”
Whilst her focus is beauty, the idea of masks resonated with me as someone who’s spent the last year exploring my neurodiversity. It’s also relevant to Changing Relations C.I.C.’s work unpicking the gender stereotypes that affect how we feel we should behave as a man or woman.
This came together for me a few weeks ago as I worked on a task outside my comfort zone to a tight deadline and burst into tears. I felt foolish for bringing emotion to the professional sphere but as I zoomed out of the emotion, I realised this was an example of incongruence — with echoes of Fargeat’s notion of visiting violence on oneself.
Navigating Emotionality and Self-Acceptance
One of the features of ADHD is difficulty regulating emotion, making me excitable with a tendency to crash hard. Calm is not my forte! The trick is to build one’s “window of tolerance” (thanks 🌈 Liz Mulhall for this concept), engaging in soothing activity so that when something challenging comes along, it’s less likely to throw your emotions out of whack.
But in the last few months, I’ve dealt with a nerve-wracking health situation whilst steering my business through a tough economic climate in the VCSE/culture sectors. No wonder my window of tolerance was paper thin. Instead of rolling my eyes, I could have shown compassion.
It didn’t occur to me to see this from a gendered perspective until I attended The WOW Foundation “think-in” to prepare for a festival coming our way in October. We were tasked with thinking about what we’d want Durham WOW to feature in terms of the messages to foreground, and emotionality was one of the themes — how women are seen as “less than” for being emotional, whilst male expressions of anger — at a sports loss or high-stakes political meltdown — are in a different category.
This isn’t to pit men against women. This relationship to emotionality is not a win for anyone.
But it made me realise the internalised misogyny of berating myself for my emotionality, as if tears are embarrassingly girly.
Why It Matters
I think letting go of the fear of being who we are makes us more likely to thrive as we’re not wasting energy holding masks or beating ourselves up if they drop. It also empowers others to be honest when it’s not actually fine.
Bit of a lifetime mission to achieve personal congruence though!
Image Tracy Thomas
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