Spring 2016 update!

We hope you had a fantastic Easter, and as we head into Spring 2016, we're not far from the one-year anniversary of our decision to launch Clear Lines. We're so glad we did it -- in the process, creating the UK's first-ever festival dedicated to addressing sexual assault and consent through the arts and discussion. Many of our videos from last year's festival are now available for free online, so keep reading for links, a special discount to Tiff Stevenson's comedy show TONIGHT, exciting news about awards, other festivals, and the future for Clear Lines.

Clear Lines was honoured to lead a discussion group on sexual assault and abuse at the high-profile Women of the World Festival (WOW) at the Southbank Centre on March 12th. Thanks to all of you who came, shared, listened, and participated in this important community of survivors and supporters. Let's keep talking and supporting each other!

Special discount tickets are available TODAY, Thursday, March 31st for the one-time-only, 5-star-rated Leicester Square performance of the fabulous Tiff Stevenson, curator and host of last year's Clear Lines Comedy Night. For members of the Clear Lines community, you can get £5 tix HERE when you quote 'madman16' - it's at 9:15pm for an hour of subversive, intelligent feminist humour. Don't miss her!

'Are male survivors invisible?' This is just one of many videos from our Clear Lines sessions last year, which now available for free online! Click here to watch videos from our panels on media coverage of sexual assault, what to tell kids about sexual abuse, sexual harrassment in the workplace, revenge porn, sex after sexual assault, as well as moving performances from our Spoken Word Night. This is just a sample from last year's festival, but let's start by sharing them around.

Clear Lines was shortlisted for the prestigious Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize last October, recognising women who work against male violence. We were shortlisted for the Group Award, alongside the amazing organisations Rights of Women, Sisters Uncut, and Million Women Rise (the eventual winners). The prize-giving was at the Feminism in London Conference, and many thanks to all of those who made this recognition possible. Our Co-Founder Winnie M Li was also shortlisted for the Individual Award.

Clear Lines speakers, artists & volunteers are continuing to make waves at other events addressing the issue of sexual abuse. Elsewhere at WOW, our Co-Founder Dr. Nina Burrowes and Pavan Amara spoke on the panel My Body Back: Reclaiming Sex and Physicality After Sexual Violence, and Winnie spoke on the Rape: Giving Testimony panel, hosted by Artistic Director of the South Bank Centre, Jude Kelly. WOW also saw performances & talks from Bridget Christie, our Clear Lines poets & Laydeez Do Comics, and stalls run by My Body Back and Survivors Collective. In February, the One Billion Rising Festival took place, organised by Goblin Baby Theatre Company, our Co-Producers for the Clear Lines Theatre Night. Winnie chaired both the opening and closing panel talks, and Clear Lines plays were performed both at this festival and the Keble Arts Festival: We Need to Talk (organised by one of our speakers Ione Wells). And our volunteer Jo Swo organised the first-ever Reclaim The Night March at the University of East Anglia on February 20th. Nice work, everyone: keep speaking out & sharing!

Since Clear Lines, Dr. Nina Burrowes has been working with our sponsor On Road Media on their project exploring sexual abuse and the media. Nina's also been busy training police, prosecutors, and judges who handle cases of sexual abuse. She appeared in this interview with BBC Inside Out, and has written these opinion pieces for The Guardian.

Meanwhile, our other Co-Founder Winnie M Li started her PhD research at the London School of Economics on the role of social media in providing a platform for rape survivors' voices. You can watch a video on her research here, check out her Huffington Post column, and read this feature story on her in The Irish Times. Her debut novel Dark Chapter will be coming out in 2017. Winnie's just been shortlisted for the Asian Women of Achievement Award in the Social & Humanitarian category for her work in launching Clear Lines.

And what lies ahead for Clear Lines? Crowdfunding rewards are still being sent out to our generous backers, and we keep getting queries from artists, speakers, activists & many others who are eager for a second edition of Clear Lines in 2016. We'd like it to happen, too, we're just a bit swamped with our other commitments! And need to figure out how to fund this year's festival (most likely to take place in Autumn 2016). If you have any interest in contributing time, effort, talent, contacts, organisational skills, or a fundraising ethos, please get in touch: winniemli@yahoo.co.uk - And we hope to make the next Clear Lines a reality!

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Clear Lines Festival UK · http://clearlines.org.uk/ · London, London N/A · United Kingdom