Social Impact / Bristol Women's voice
‘Frome needs a project like Upfest to give status to street art’
Bristol Women’s Voice (BWV) set up the Wonderful Women Awards as part of their International Women’s Day celebrations. This year BWV is producing Deeds Not Words, a programme of events across Bristol to mark 100 years since the first women were given the vote in the UK.
Bristol Women’s Voice is a membership organisation which works to make women’s equality in Bristol a reality.
Crysse Morrison received a wonderful women award for being a champion of the arts scene in Frome where she is a writer, photographer and blogger. She runs a Poetry Cafe, co-runs Nevertheless Pub Theatre, and reviews a wide range of events across Frome and the Southwest.
is needed now More than ever
Bristol Women’s Voice award winner Crysse Morrison
What advice would you give your younger self?
Learn the difference between loyalty and collusion. Learn that submission and secrecy are not acts of love.
Which women have inspired you?
Lots of the women I’ve found out about researching the history of Frome, where I live. Alice Seeley Harris, who exposed the terrible human rights abuses in the Congo to the world by travelling Europe and America showing photographs. Eunice Overend, who challenged the Ministry over their policy on badgers. Jill Miller, a feminist writer. Claudia Pepler, who has kept the Merlin theatre going despite massive funding cuts. I am also inspired by the entrepreneurial women of Frome who start and run organisations, shops, pubs, fracking protests and more.
What do you want to see change for women in Bristol?
In Frome where I live, I very much want to see the artistic side of the town more vividly represented. I’d like to see more street art – ideally a project like Bristol’s Upfest to give status to street art – and help us find our own cultural identity, which is urban but differently so.
It would be great if women could be a part of and support this initiative. I’d like to see women having a strong presence as buskers, street poets and performers in the monthly market. Women are already doing a great deal in our town, so blurring these kind of gender demarcations in a visible way to me is a next step.
Are there three words you would use to describe your local community?
Vibrant, creative, determined.
Keep an eye out next Friday for another interview with another wonderful woman.
Find out more about Bristol Women’s Voice and their Wonderful Women Award’s online: www.bristolwomensvoice.org.uk
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