09 October 2021
Matt
F WORDZ is an uplifting, feminist, dance and spoken word project raising underserved voices to elevate & empower women of all ages. Talking with artists, archivists, performers, singers, writers, academics, leaders of community and charity organisations, grandmothers, mothers, daughters, F WORDZ uncovers personal experiences of feminism, failure, freedom, fierce and f***. We work with girls and women aged 16-65+ to elevate and empower each other by discovering shared feats, fears, vulnerabilities and power.
This is an ongoing project that has developed a podcast with 8 interviews, a work-in-progress performance, and workshops with young people and adults using movement, theatre, comedy and voice work, in order to to re-present real stories, debunk taboos about periods, gender barriers and sex, and remove the sense of shame we often feel, so we can celebrate the bodies we have, the way we think, and who we are!
We have run intergenerational F WORDZ workshops, and performed The F WORDZ Show (work-in progress), in pubs, cafes, village halls, schools, colleges, universities, libraries and galleries.
We plan to develop the performance and outreach workshops to reach young girls and women aged 11-100+, because empowered women empower women, and when we share our experiences, we offer each other insight into our worlds and can normalise things that are often not talked about enough.
F WORDZ R&D (2021) was funded by Arts Council England and supported by local partners: a space arts, ZoieLogic, Theatre for Life, SoCo Music Project, City Eye, MAST Mayflower Studio Theatre, Tracie’s Latin Club, The Point, Pavilion Dance South West, Clearcut, Lila Dance, Hampshire Archives Trust, University of Chichester and South East Dance.
F WORDZ donated 10% ticket sales to Bloody Good Period, a charity who get period supplies items to refugees, asylum-seekers and those who can’t afford or access them. “Since March 2020, when the UK first entered lockdown, they’ve distributed over 100,000 packs of period products – meaning that people have had one less thing to bloody worry about.”
Find out more and donate directly here: actions.bloodygoodperiod.com/d/donate