Maisha Stories: No Place Like Home [ June Series ]

Join Writing Our Legacy and Diversity Lewes to share your experience of Sussex Police and help inform how we can use storytelling to improve EDI in police practice and policies.

The workshops are free and will take place at Lewes Depot. They are aimed at BPOC people living, working or studying in Sussex. The guest artist for all three sessions is Akila Richards.

• Food and drink refreshments will be provided.
• This is a series of three workshop in total.
• Each session will involve different making opportunities
• The sessions will provide experience in oral storytelling, creative writing, and various visual arts.
• All sessions will be fun and open to all - no experience is necessary !!

Dates:

23rd & 30th of June 2024 | 2pm-4pm

Please tell us if you have:

• Any access needs.
• Dietary requirements.
• Or if there are any topics you'd like to cover in the sessions (or you can tell us on the day).
• We can also pay for your travel to and from the workshops if needed.

Transport
The workshop will take place at Lewes Depot, which is right next to Lewes train station.
This is an accessible venue.
Address: Lewes Depot, Pinwell Rd, Lewes BN7 2JS

For further information or questions please email [email protected].

In partnership with Sussex Police.

Supported by University of Brighton's Community - University Partnership Programme.This University of Brighton project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Funded by AHRC Impact Account and Arts Council England.

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Maisha Stories - University of Brighton (UoB) Creative Workshops is a project led by Jess Moriarty, who works at the UoB in the School of Humanities and Social Science. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing and seek to develop work that is concerned with Decolonising Higher Education (HE). This project is looking to develop models of best practice around creative workshops with Black people. This model will inform a research bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Council exploring how storytelling can enhance health care provision around mental health and wellbeing, and also the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy at Sussex Police.

This research will explore the potential benefits of 3 creative workshops that will take place at The Depot in Lewes. You will also be invited to fill in feedback forms about your experience of the project.

Why have I been invited to take part?

This project involves members of Diversity Lewes, Writing Our Legacy, Sussex Police and Uob and you have been invited to take part because of your connection with one/some of those networks and because you are over 18. There is no exclusion criteria and everyone above 18 is welcome.

Do I have to take part?

All the workshops are free and you are welcome to leave the project at any time. Once we have your feedback forms, we will not be able to return them and any creative work that you share is yours and you can request that we don’t use a copy of your creative work up to 7 days after the workshop.

What will happen to me if I take part?

The workshops – you only need to attend one - will take place at The Depot in Lewes https://lewesdepot.org/ on the following dates:

23rd June 2024

30th June 2024

They will last 3 hours and led by experts from WOL. The workshops are free and there will be catering. We can also pay for your travel to and from the workshops if needed. You will be invited to take part in creative activities. At the end of each workshop, you will be asked to fill in an anonymous feedback form. All creative work is yours but we will ask for copies that we can use in our analysis of the workshops. We will use this analysis to inform a future funding bid and also in presentations and published work we develop as a result of the project. You can request that your work is anonymized. We ask that there is no alcohol or smoking during the workshop.

Will I be paid for taking part?

The workshops will provide catering and you will take part in workshops led by writing experts from WOL.

What are the potential disadvantages or risks of taking part?

None of the workshops are designed to make people feel vulnerable and no one will be forced to share work. We are happy not use your names on any work we publish however, all documents will be linked to the project at the University of Brighton and therefore absolute anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

What are the potential benefits of taking part?

You will learn new creative skills in workshops led by experts and develop your own work.

Will my taking part in the study/project be kept confidential?

We are happy not use your names on any work we publish however, all documents will be linked to the project at the University of Brighton and therefore absolute anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Feedback forms will be kept at the UoB One Drive site for ten years and then destroyed. Only UoB and staff connected to the project will have access to these forms although any comments we publish will be available to the wider public. All creative work will be anonymised unless you tell us that you would like to be named as an author in any work we publish or share. You can find out more information about the UoB’s privacy policy via this link: and for further information on data protection please go to: https://unibrightonac.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/public/ERAnx7fZSR9Lv6MRZ1KwpMMBcOSYGp30CAwkTzbbzHLDNQ?e=4gH9GQ).

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study?

You may withdraw from the study without giving a reason however once we have your feedback forms, we will not be able to return them and any creative work that you share is yours and you can request that we don’t use a copy of your creative work up to 7 days after the workshop.

What will happen to the results of the project?

We will disseminate our initial findings at a final event at The Depot later this year and also via the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing (UoB) blog Centre for Arts and Wellbeing | Centre for Arts and Wellbeing (brighton.ac.uk) We will use our findings to inform a future funding bid, journal article and conference presentation and these might include your anonymised stories and analysis of your creative work and feedback form.

Who is organising and funding the research? (not required for student research where no funding involved)

This study is funded by the IGNITE Acceleration fund and Policy Support Fund. The study has been reviewed and given a favourable ethical opinion by the relevant Research Ethics Committee at the UoB.

Contact details

Provide contact details of the researcher(s) for further information about the project. It is recommended that researchers do not use home addresses or phone numbers for their own safety, and that University email addresses are used rather than private ones.

What if I have a question or concern?

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the project and your part in it at any time then please contact Jess Moriarty at [email protected]

If you have any concerns about the project, please contact Professor Rusi Jaspal at [email protected]

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given a favourable ethical opinion by the BREAM Research Ethics Committee at UoB.

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Akila Richards is a poet, writer and spoken word artist. She has created work for theatre, exhibitions, audio installations, film and digital platforms at cultural and artistic events. Her most recent work featured at Brighton Festival, her ‘Rest Experience’ initiative, in Covert Magazine and hot off the press ‘Glimpse’ anthology by Peepal Tree Press. Her current commission includes a location based story for ‘We See You Now’. Akila’s poetry pamphlet ‘Ritual for a Mango’ is currently being edited for publication and she is writing her first novel.

Supported by University of Brighton's Community - University Partnership Programme.This University of Brighton project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Funded by AHRC Impact Account and Arts Council England.

is an arts and heritage organisation that enables Black, Asian and ethnically diverse/BPOC* people to tell their story through writing and the creative arts. We were established in 2012.

We give writers and other creatives a platform and community to feel supported, nurtured and evolve their work through the creative pipeline, from start to publication. We share stories and heritage of diaspora communities and bring them to life through various art forms for audiences to learn and take part in cultural heritage. We are an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

*BPOC stands for ‘Black people, People of Colour’ and is a self-identifying term. While we use the term BPOC, we acknowledge the limitations of this terminology. At the core of our network is the aim to address and overcome systemic barriers that our members face directly or indirectly based on their ethnic or national identities, race or perceived racial identities, or the colour of their skin as per the Equality Act of 2010. This includes people who identify as Black, brown, people of colour, Global Majority, mixed-race, multiple heritage and/or are from the Global South, and/or are East and South-East Asian, West Asian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, African-Caribbean, Caribbean, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or First Nations, and diasporas.

Host or Publisher Writing Our Legacy CIC