UpFront Survivors Pop Up Cultural Space

UpFront Survivors is a three-year programme of creative changemaking, designed and led by survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and allies. I worked with the ViV Gordon Company to produce the launch of the project with one of the first ever pop-up cultural spaces for the CSA survivor community, friends and allies ih March 2023, at The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft in Bristol, featuring a free programme of daily creative workshops and cultural events, including the ABC of CSA exhibition, an open mic night and a comedy night.

Directed by survivor-led, arts activist Viv Gordon Company, developed in partnership with SARSAS and The Green House and evaluated by the Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Coventry University, the project received Home Office funding until 2025 through the Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (SVSCSA) Fund.

An estimated 11 million adults – or one in six people – have experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) in the UK. CSA survivors lack representation on national and local platforms, as experiences of CSA continue to be hidden and taboo.

The only way to change this is to build a visible, peer-led, and accessible survivor community in partnership with frontline services to work towards effective, holistic and sustainable support – which is exactly what UpFront Survivors has been designed to do.

Two women hold up a large black and white sign that reads "Upfront survivors speaking out and leading change". They are on the pavement with blocks of flats in the background.

Illustration incorporates the words "P is for the healing power of love". There are 3 children intertwined by one another's hands, which have transformed into umbrella-type supports that they sit on/ under - sheltered and safe.

Imogen Harvey Lewis

I learned so much from working with Viv Gordon and Kate McStraw, about creating safe(r) spaces, thinking about access needs in the widest possible sense and how to build solidarity and community.