I am so pleased to finally be able to present to you the OCASA 2022 EDI Calendar! Thank you to all the students who submitted a piece for consideration. Our collaborative projects are growing, and seeing the student community come together is fantastic. All students are encouraged to download a PDF of the calendar by clicking here. The calendar has been designed to be used both digitally and printed - however, you will need to print this at home. (Note: In order to access the calendar, you will need to be logged in to your OCA Google account.)
About the Project
In November, we sent out an open call to all OCA students asking for creative pieces to be used in a celebratory calendar for 2022. With this project, we wanted to highlight minority and under-represented communities, as their holidays, celebrations, and days of remembrance are frequently left off the calendar. We asked participants to choose a celebration or observance that is meaningful to them and that they feel requires spotlighted. We encouraged students to reflect on their own identities and cultural experiences, and we also provided a list of examples.
Sixteen students submitted work for the project. Due to the nature of the calendar, we received multiple entries for most months, but unfortunately, we did not receive a submission for the month of January. Out of transparency and a desire to uphold the intentions of this project, we chose to omit January from the calendar. We felt this was preferable to scrambling to shove something in that doesn't quite fit. We hope to repeat this project for 2023, and we have learned from this mistake - a slightly different approach may be required.
Overall, the project has been a huge success, and many students remarked on how happy they were that they got to participate in something like this. We hope we can develop more fun and engaging collaborative projects in the future!
Submissions Gallery
Not every submission was able to make it into the final calendar. We aimed to ensure a diverse range of events and creative mediums were represented throughout. However, we believe all submissions are deserving of being displayed. They are all fantastic and represent powerful and meaningful experiences and celebrations. Below you can see all of the creative pieces we received for this project. Thank you again to all participants. I hope this project has inspired you in new ways.
Creative submission from Han Q - Representing International Non-Binary People's Day
Creative submission from Catherine Lewis - Representing International Menopause Day
Creative submission from Lynn Excell - Representing Autism Awareness Month (1) and Deaf Awareness Week (2 & 3)
Creative submission from Sarah James - Representing Mental Health Awareness Week
Creative submission from Francesca Menghini - Representing Transgender Day of Visibility, Transgender Day of Remembrance, International Non-binary People's Day, and Pride Month
Creative submission from Nina Vallard - Representing Care Experienced History Month
Creative submission from Kym Walker - Representing International Day of Women and Girls in Science
Creative submission from Jenna Powell - Representing LGBT History Month
Creative submission from Andrew Mortimer - Representing Native American Heritage Month
Creative submission from Scarlett Barrow - Representing International Day of Peace
Creative submission from Vera Eckett - Representing Lunar New Year
Creative submission from Therese Livonne - Representing World Suicide Prevention Day (1) and International Day of Persons with Disabilities (2)
Creative submission from Yarrow Hebben - Representing LGBT History Month (1) and Neurodivercity Celebration Week (2)
Creative submission from Kay Hardy-Bayley - Representing Pride Month (1), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (2), International Women's Day (3), ADHD Awareness Day (4), Autism Acceptance Month & Transgender Day of Visibility (5 & 6), and Black History Month & Emancipation Day in the Carribbean (7 & 8)
Creative submission from Katrina Ardern - Representing World AIDS Day
If you have an idea for a future collaborative student project or want to participate in an existing one, please email us at ocasa@oca.ac.uk.