Everyday Heroes
Introduction
Everyday Heroes is a creative, participatory research programme on gender equality and gender-based violence, commissioned by the Scottish Government to inform work to make Scotland Equally Safe.
Julia Rowe
The programme incorporated collaborative artistic approaches from the design of the project, workshop materials to engage 125 young people including survivors, to elicit young people’s lightbulb ideas for change.
Young artists transformed these into illustrations for events, briefings, pledge postcards, the website, and reports to influence policy.
A series of artworks was created as a result of a collaboration between Everyday Heroes young advisors, Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland, Barnardos, Claire Houghton (social policy lecturer at the University of Edinburgh), and Harvey Dingwall (artist and illustration lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art).
Project aims
The aims of the Everyday Heroes arts collaboration project were to:
- co-design artwork that represented the findings of the research on gender equality and gender-based violence
- create illustrations and artwork informed by the words and imagery from the young participants workshops that would be used throughout their leaflets and reports
Project dates: 2017 – 2018
Hands Equally Safe Co-Design Day
Outcomes & legacy
Everyday Heroes young survivors and advisors came together with illustration students at events in Parliament to demand action on their recommendations, meeting the Cabinet Secretary, Solicitor General and CoSLA representative as well as many MSPS and people with influence. Pledge postcards were used to collate pledges from people in power to act.
- Illustration students created artwork that was incorporated throughout the reports and leaflets presented to Parliament by Everyday Heroes young advisors
- Young advisors met the Cabinet Secretary in Parliament to share children and young people’s priorities and advocate for the inclusion of their recommendations in the Equally Safe Delivery Plan.
- More details about the project and illustrations can be seen on the project website
Content
The people involved
Claire Houghton is a lecturer in social policy and qualitative research methods in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include gender and violence, children’s rights, participation, policy-making, feminist theory, ethics and research practices, and research impact.
Harvey Dingwall is Programme Director of the BA and MA Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. He is an artist/illustrator who is interested in the value of drawing and whose research is a critical inquiry into the relationship of digital media on drawing and it’s impact on learning and teaching.
Partners included:
- Everyday Heroes young advisors
- Scottish Women’s Aid
- Rape Crisis Scotland
- Barnardos
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Photo gallery
*** Photo gallery here ***
