Arts University Plymouth works with women's charity to create placards

Arts University Plymouth is working with women’s charity Trevi to facilitate placard design workshops for a Plymouth-based ‘Reclaim the Night’ march, taking place on Friday 7 February 2025.

Starting at Arts University Plymouth’s Tavistock Place campus, the free public march will start at 6:15pm and walk from the arts university through the city centre and finish back at Tavistock Place.

To amplify the voices of those standing united against violence towards women and girls, Arts University Plymouth is hosting a screen printing placard-making workshop from 4pm and space for the public to create hand-drawn placards on campus from 5pm, before the march begins.

Screen printing sessions will be run by Arts University Plymouth staff, where participants can choose a design by Arts University Plymouth’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design student, Emily Grabham, to screen print onto lightweight boards.

Alternatively, participants can create their own hand-drawn placard with materials supplied by Trevi and supported by BA (Hons) Illustration students.

Part of Sexual Violence Awareness Week, which runs for the first week of February, the workshop and the march will offer a platform for participants to express their solidarity and support.

Trevi is a nationally award-winning women’s and children’s charity founded in 1993 and based in South West England.

They currently run four centres throughout Plymouth that support women, children and families, which aims to prevent women with multiple disadvantages, being affected by violence and abuse.

Arts University Plymouth Students’ Union manager, Harriet Moore said: "Arts University Plymouth Students' Union is continually improving safety provisions for students, and working with others in the city to improve these in the wider Plymouth community.

"We are proud to be supporting the Reclaim the Night march and excited to be hosting the hand-drawn and screen printed placard making workshop before the start of the march."

Jacqueline Moore, Director of External Relations at Arts University Plymouth, said: “Its a privilege for university staff and student volunteers to be able to support this important event to raise awareness of the unacceptable national and international statistics on sexual violence.

"We hope as many people as possible will join Trevi in marching to demand that girls and women should feel safe to enjoy public spaces day and night without looking over their shoulders for fear of violence and harassment.”

‘Reclaim the Night’ marches and protests have been prominent in cities across the UK for nearly five decades, starting in Leeds in 1977 when women came together to express their rage and anger against a series of murders by Peter Sutcliffe and towards the police who had subsequently imposed a curfew for women, while men were able to live their lives freely.

Women nationally continue to protest and advocate for not only having to take extra measures to ensure their own safety within their daily lives but also being expected to take precautions against the added threat of issues such as spiking and the risk of sexual assault on nights out.