PR Portfolio: The Silver Spoons Collective
I Am Witch exhibition takes media by storm
Introduction
Curated by a group of women collaborating as The Silverspoons Collective, the month-long I Am Witch exhibition, held at the Storey Institute in Lancaster, lifted the lid on the so called ‘Burning Times’ of the European Witch Hunts (1450-1750), exploring the history, and how epigenetically inherited trauma from those times continues to affect us today. The curators also aimed to dispel witch myths of ‘black pointy hats, devil worshipping, warty-nosed old women’ and tell the untold story of what really happened.
Sharing the trauma-clearing personal journeys of 33 women, expressed through interactive installations, painting, film, music, performance and storytelling, the exhibition offered a powerful opportunity for reflection and reconnection, and the chance to be part of a growing movement for social change and healing.
“Having been so impressed with the PR work Will did for TreeSisters, he was the obvious choice to employ to publicise my next project, an experiential exhibition called ‘I Am Witch – Tales from the Roundhouse’. Over the course of six months, Will delivered a constant stream of high quality media coverage, including a feature in the Guardian and ITV and BBC TV news features, which built substantial awareness and understanding of our work across new audiences. His dedicated writing of press releases and numerous articles to enable this was over and above our expectations. I’d have no hesitation to employ his services again in the future.”
Cali White – Lead Curator and Founder of the Silver Spoons Collective
PR Campaign
An advance press release gave the full lowdown on the exhibition and the key themes, art projects and associated workshops and performances. The release highlighted “the untold history lesson” of what happened in the Burning Times, why it matters and the wounds still carried in the collective psyche, and invited people to heal and learn from this historical tragedy. It also explained that a percentage of ticket sales would be donated to reforestation charity TreeSisters to plant trees.
In addition, two listicle articles were written and offered to the media: ‘Seven benefits of connecting with our ancestors’ (released at Samhain/Halloween to preview the exhibition) and ‘Five ways women today can carry the legacy wounds of the Burning Times’. Media biographies were also written for some of the artists involved to attract wider press coverage from different regional areas.
Attended by over 2000 visitors, the event’s 28 workshops and three nights of live performances were mostly sold out. The exhibition raised enough money to plant over 5,100 trees with tree-planting charity, TreeSisters.
Media highlights
Media coverage included:
- An extensive arts & culture feature in the Guardian newspaper which previewed the exhibition
- A large feature in the Daily Mail also previewed the exhibition, explored the science around inherited trauma, and included the listicle provided, sharing ‘Five ways women today can carry the legacy wounds of the Burning Times’
- TV News pieces on BBC North West Tonight and ITV Granada Reports both featured live coverage of the exhibition
- A short news piece on ITV Good Morning Britain plugged the exhibition
- Interviews with event organisers and exhibitors (from different regions) ran on UK Health Radio and nine BBC regional radio stations, including: BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Gloucestershire
- Regional newspaper articles ran in the Lancaster Guardian and Lancaster Post
- Four articles were published in spiritual and health related publications, including Good Health, Kindred Spirit and MyGreenPod
- Nine additional articles about the exhibition ran on UK and global news websites, including Pehal News in India and News Net Daily in the USA