Collaborator Profile Sutton Women's Centre - Sutton STEAMS Ahead
Collaborator Profile: Sutton Women’s Centre
Sutton Women’s Centre supports Sutton based women who have experience domestic or sexual abuse. For the Light and Dark Festival, Sutton Women’s Centre with People Arise Now produced Finding the Light, a documentary film retelling the stories of women who have experienced and escaped domestic violence, and are now living thriving lives in Sutton.
Tell us a little bit about yourselves
We work with all women who live or work in the London Borough of Sutton but we specialise in supporting women who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse.
How were you involved in Sutton STEAMs Ahead?
We collaborated with People Arise Now, Linzy Attenborough (a local film and documentary maker) and Anna Virabyan, a local artist, to produce a film titled Finding the Light. The film showed the journey of 3 women from the darkness of their trauma, into the light of their recovery and how they now live lives free from abuse.
Sutton Women's Centre, in collaboration with several partners hosted a film screening of a documentary, 'Finding the Light'.
Were there any highlights and/or take-aways from being part of Sutton STEAMs Ahead?
We established a new relationship with People Arise Now and we hope to work together again in the future. We gained deeper sensitivity and understanding about how cultural backgrounds can effect transparency around sharing stories. We made connections with other organisations at the event and reached new audiences.
What does STEAM mean to you?
We believe it is important that women and girls are encouraged to engage with these subjects that are traditionally seen as "male" subjects. We visited a local grammar school that has a mixed 6th form and the girls told us that they felt outnumbered and unseen in the maths and science subjects. We don't work in those areas but we do support the arts, with weekly art classes and a drama group, and regular creative events, such as Power of Women (POW).
What’s up next for you?
We will be organising another POW event in March and also an event/s for International Women's Day. I think our involvement with this event will lead us to look at doing similar work in the future. It has given us the confidence to apply for funding and be involved with different events that we wouldn't have previously considered we were eligible for.
Have you worked with us as part of the Sutton STEAMs Ahead programme? Contact us to potentially feature in a Collaborator Profile. Send an email to suttonsteamsahead@sutton.gov.uk.
