The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

FOR the past two and a half years, members of the Hollaback! Bahamas group have been focused on raising awareness of sexual harassment in public places, and have been giving Bahamians the opportunity to talk about the issue through various events and activities.

Continuing on this mission, Hollaback! Bahamas will once again partner with students of the Pro Society art club at the College of the Bahamas to host the 2016 Chalk Festival. The event aims to shine a light on social issues and home-grown creativity at the same time.

The festival will take place on November 17, from 2pm to 4pm, at COB’s Survivor’s Walk passageway. During previous events, students were able to participate by purchasing a piece of chalk and using it to write and draw along the walkway.

This time around, however, participants will be asked to donate $2 to hurricane relief efforts headed by the Rotary Clubs of the Bahamas in exchange for chalk.

“Chalk walks have long been a staple of the Hollaback movement, and when we learned about the Chalk Art Festival at COB we reached out to student leadership to talk about how we could work together to scale the event to benefit us both,” said Alicia Wallace, director of Hollaback! Bahamas.

It was Kevante Cash, Hollaback! Bahamas’ campus ambassador, who took the lead in organising this event, as she is currently working on building relationships between the organisation and other clubs and organisations at COB.

“We talked about ways to have broader conversations about feminism and gender issues, and effectively connect them to other areas of people’s lives. After Hurricane Matthew, Kevante wanted to find ways to raise money for relief efforts and highlight the needs of women and girls in particular, and that was the catalyst for planning this event and involving the Rotary Clubs of the Bahamas,” said Ms Wallace.

She believes art activism is becoming more popular and it is important to have this conversation here the Bahamas, where she believes persons are beginning to value both art and activism more; seeing both their implicit and explicit value.

Ms Wallace said she is looking forward to meeting students at the event, hearing about the issues they are passionate about, and exchanging ideas.

For her, being on campus is always a privilege and she enjoys the passion she sees in students, all while having the opportunity to listen, share resources, and invite them to join movements aligned with Hollaback!’s core values and vision for the future.

She said COB is the perfect place to meet the young change-makers who will be running Hollaback! in five years.

“We are doing serious work on a daily basis, talking about things people don’t necessarily want to hear about, and art allows us to have conversations in a different way. When people see us writing and drawing on sidewalks, they stop, watch and ask questions. And when we offer a piece of chalk, it’s an invitation for them to join the conversation. That’s the environment we want to create, where people can be a part of the work we’re doing, bring different perspectives, and express themselves safely and respectfully. We definitely plan to continue with this annual event, bringing new themes, collaborators and beneficiaries each time,” said Ms Wallace.

Hollaback is an international movement to end street harassment powered by a network of local activists around the world.