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Call out to all artists, makers, zinesters, feminists and anyone in between to make and donate artwork to raise funds for Baobab Women’s Project!!! We will be selling all artworks at our Spring 2020 fundraising event: EMPOWER BAB!

Baobab Women’s Project are a local refugee and asylum seeker grassroots women’s advocacy project. They provide advice and support including assistance with immigration, health and housing. They focus on undocumented, asylum seeking and newly granted refugee women’s issues, particularly supporting women affected by gender violence and trafficking.

We would like you to respond to the word EMPOWER! through drawing, collage, painting, poetry, or, simply send a message of support and solidarity for women supported by Baobab Women’s Project.

Here are your instructions:

• creatively respond to the word EMPOWER! on A6 postcard size card or paper (105mm x 148mm or roughly that size)
• there is no limit to the number of artworks you can submit
• put the title of your work, your name and instagram or other social media handle that you’d like to share on the back (if you want to be completely anonymous that is fine too!)
• include a note with your email address if you’d like to be updated by email about the fundraising event
• post your artwork(s) to: FWFC EMPOWER BAB!, c/o Grand Union, 19 Minerva Works, Fazeley Street, Birmingham B5 5RS
• alternatively you can drop your work into Grand Union in person on these dates: Monday 13th Jan 10am-3pm, Friday 24th Jan 10am-3pm and Saturday 8th Feb 12-5pm
• the deadline for receiving submissions by post is: Friday 28th February 2020

All artworks will be displayed at our fundraising event and all money raised from sales will go directly to Baobab Women’s Project.

Thank you so much for supporting the vital work that Baobab Women’s Project do.

The next FWFC planning meeting will be from 2 – 4pm, Sunday 12th January 2020, in the Map Room at Cherry Reds in Birmingham. Please note the room for the meeting is upstairs and not accessible, if you wish to come along and this will prevent you from doing so, please do get in touch.

This meeting will focus on our next fundraising event for Baobab Women’s Project.

If you are interested in finding out more or coming along, take a look at the summary from the last meeting, and / or get in touch here.

We welcome CIS men’s support in all areas except at planning meetings. We believe that women, trans people and gender non-conforming folks need to be at the forefront of the move to dismantle the patriarchy and therefore we need safe, collective spaces where we can organise, share our experiences, learn from each other and support one another.

Thanks so much to everyone who came along and for all your hard work, time and input!

FWFC at recent events:
FWFC members attended the Youth Strike for Climate Change on 20th September 2019 supporting members of Birmingham YouthStrike4Climate . Check out the pics from a great day of solidarity here.

Upcoming events in Birmingham:
This Autumn: Bedlam 2019: Birmingham’s 4th Arts and Mental Health Festival runs until Saturday 12th October and SHOUT! Festival of Queer Art and Culture is coming up: 5th – 17th November.

BACK UP: Art Project in BSWA Refuges
Our members working on this project have had domestic violence training with Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid (BSWA), and have delivered their first pilot session with women to help plan for our bigger project. The training and pilot was invaluable and we learned so much in preparation for our art and craft projects with women living in refuge. Hearing how BSWA work with women was powerful and inspiring, and reaffirmed why feminism and feminist thinking is so crucial to our everyday lives. There will also be a public engagement side to this project which will: provide a voice and make visible the stories of women living in refuge and those who support them; disseminate vital, factual information about DV; raise awareness of DV support services in public and online spaces; and initiate a call to action around DV and women’s inequality.

BACK UP: Cooking Project with BSWA
We are currently researching women who would like to voluntarily deliver a cooking project for young women living in refuge. The project would involve teaching how to cook basic healthy meals, and knowledge around food hygiene and storage. Some great suggestions from members and people to follow up!

BACK UP: Goodnight Out Campaign Update
The Goodnight Out Campaign is an independent, international initiative dedicated to helping the night-time economy deal with, tackle and prevent harassment. They do this by helping licensed premises adopt best practice policies through a poster campaign and the provision of specialist training. They have secured funding to work in partnership with BSWA to deliver a pilot project in Birmingham and are looking for eight venues, pubs, bars or clubs to receive FREE accreditation and training on safer nightlife skills for all their staff and security. Do you know somewhere they should train? Email info@goodnightoutcampaign.org.

ELEVATE: SRE Curriculum
If you’d like to support the ongoing campaign for relevant SRE (Sex and Relationships Education) provision and the teaching of equality and diversity, SEEDS (Supporting Education of Equality and Diversity in Schools) are doing great work in Birmingham and there are practical suggestions on their facebook page for things you can do locally.

ORGANISE: Fundraising for Baobab Women’s Project
The recent Studio Sale fundraising event at Grand Union as part of Digbeth First Friday in August went really well! Thank you to the women from Baobab Women’s Project who came along and also to our members who provided merch and ran the stall. It was a great start to our fundraising. Thank you Grand Union for organising the event and giving us the opportunity! We are currently working on a fundraising event EMPOWER BAB! scheduled for Spring 2020, our next planning meeting will focus on the fundraiser so if you’d like to find out more and come along, get in touch. Baobab Women’s Project are a West Midlands refugee and asylum seeker grassroots women’s advocacy project, working in solidarity with others for positive change, and are our current fundraising beneficiary.

ORGANISE: FWFC at Barber Lates 2019 (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham)
Some of our members will be talking about FWFC as part of the Barber Lates Herstories Archives and Activism event with the Feminist Library on Tuesday 19th November.

ORGANISE: West Midlands Feminist Hero
We have a list of amazing women who qualify as West Midlands Feminist Heroes! We will be celebrating the contributions, help and support that these women provide in their communities very soon.

ORGANISE: Feminist Library
The Feminist Library is open and ready to borrow from or to donate to.

DATE FOR NEXT PLANNING MEETING: 2 – 4pm, Sunday 12th January 2020, at Cherry Reds in Birmingham. If you are interested in finding out more or coming along, get in touch here.

DONATIONS:
We will be collecting much needed items for women being supported by BSWA, at every planning meeting. This support is greatly appreciated by BSWA as there is huge demand on their foodbank for women in refuge, women accessing their homeless hostel and those being supported in temporary accommodation, very often hotels, with access only to a kettle. If you are in a position to donate, do bring along things from the list of items.

FWFC will be part of Studio Sale at Grand Union on Friday 2nd August 6-8pm as part of Digbeth First Friday!

We will be selling our very own FWFC merch – t-shirts, totes and brooches – at very reasonable prices! All funds raised will go to Baobab Women’s Project, a West Midlands refugee and asylum seeker grassroots women’s advocacy project. We will also be selling poetry books and artwork produced by women working with Baobab Women’s Project, so please do come along and show your support.

Baobab Women’s Project provide advice and support including assistance with immigration, health and housing. They focus on undocumented, asylum seeking and newly granted refugee women’s issues, particularly supporting women affected by gender violence and trafficking.

We are pleased to announce that Baobab Women’s Project will be the FWFC fundraising beneficiary for the next year!

Baobab Women’s Project are a West Midlands refugee and asylum seeker grassroots women’s advocacy project, working in solidarity with others for positive change. They provide advice and support including assistance with immigration, health and housing. They focus on undocumented, asylum seeking and newly granted refugee women’s issues, particularly supporting women affected by gender violence and trafficking.