Poetry workshops at Gatis Community Space in Wolverhampton are a success, claims published poet Ian Henery who was commissioned by the I in 3 Project (It`s Our Right) to deliver the workshops funded by Arts Council England.  

"So far - and not including the short film that was shown at the Wildside Activity Centre on 7th September for the LoveTheReans Festival - the work we have done has reached over 80k people on Facebook alone.  As a creative writing and poetry group we have reached 30k on social media with 7,580 minutes of poetry videos watched and 6k public interactions."

Ian Henery, whose latest collection "Poems of Hope" was published by Kates Hill Press and launched at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival in Wolverhampton Art Gallery, led the workshops whose participants also read their work at the Music and Poetry Jam at Newhampton Arts Centre during the recent LoveTheReans Festival on 7th September.  

The workshops were supported by Arts Council England and organised by the "1 in 3" Project on gender based violence in Wolverhampton.  Survivors of domestic abuse, who were participants in the workshops,  previously showcased their creative writing at a special spoken word event at the Cafe Royale in Victoria Street on 28th August. 

The culmination of these workshops will be a public exhibition held at the Mander Center in Wolverhampton from November 4th to 7th. This exhibition will serve as a platform to raise awareness, foster dialogue, and promote a deeper understanding of the impact of gender-based violence on individuals and communities.      

Generously funded by ACE and with the invaluable support of Anne-Marie Langram, "1in3" seeks to shine a light on the pervasive issue of gender-based violence affecting not only women but also men and LGBTQ+ individuals.     Gender-based violence remains a critical issue across all communities. Statistics reveal that one in three women will experience violence in their lifetime, and it's equally important to recognize that one in six men will face sexual violence.    

LGBTQ+ individuals also experience alarmingly high rates of intimate partner violence, with nearly half reporting such encounters. "1in3" aims to address these issues head-on by creating a platform for all affected individuals to express their experiences and perspectives through art.    

"I am chuffed to bits that the Arts Council has supported this project in Wolverhampton" said Ian Henery "and we have reached over 80k people.  For engagement purposes the Arts Council look at least 10k people but the creative team lead by Diyodi Menan and Suresh Menon have totally smashed it.  At least a quarter of those engagement figures have come from the workshops at Gatis Community Space with the videos of some of the participants going viral.  One of the participant`s videos alone has seen over 7.1k views."

According to Ian these figures do not include the community engagement on Instagram (over 10k), Twitter (X) or Tik Tok to make the figures over 100k people.

"Seriously well done to everyone in the team" said Ian "and thank you for being part of this journey".