A unique and powerful audio walking tour has been launched in York – in response to the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard.
She Was Walking Home has been created by Next Door But One, a community arts collective.
Producer El Stannage explained how it had come about in an interview with Laura Castle on YorkMix Radio today (Friday).
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“After the murder of Sarah Everard, one of our artists, Kate Veysey, wanted to create a project where we gathered women’s stories, because it felt so pressing to us as women in the company and the company as a whole.
“So we gathered some women stories, asking them to share them anonymously, about how safe they felt walking home through York.
“Women shared stories of being harassed, of being assaulted, of worrying about sharing that with people, worrying about walking home alone, because they felt they’d be to blame.”
Demanding change
These stories were passed on to writer Rachel Price who turned them into monologues. And these are now available as a walking tour in York.
You can access them via QR codes which are being displayed on posters in shops, cafés and pubs in the city centre.
They are also available on the Next Door But One website.
“It’s been a powerful experience sharing the stories and hearing how women feel – and also how much they want things to change,” El said.
“They want people to hear about the things that that we could all do to change environments for them rather than expecting them to change their behaviour.”