Our Digital Lives – ESRC Festival of Social Sciences

This year the national ESRC Festival of Social Sciences theme is ‘Our Digital Lives’. For the festival, BU is supporting events that will run between Saturday October 19th and Saturday November 9th. Jayne Caudwell and Frankie Gaunt in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work were awarded up to £1,000 to hold an event in the festival.  Their event is an art exhibition focused on “Communities of Positive Well-Being: The Digital Lives of LGBTQ+ Young People”. 
The aim of the event is to showcase on-line spaces that help LGBTQ+ young people feel safe, happy and that they belong. This is important because existing research shows that physical space can be a hostile public place for LGBTQ+ people. This hostility can lead to feelings of marginalisation, exclusion and isolation.
Before the art exhibition, a series of workshops will take place with local LGBTQ+ young people to explore how social media and the internet provide opportunity for positive stories at a time when mainstream media can be negative in its coverage of LGBTQ+ issues. The workshops are funded by the Centre for Seldom Heard Voices and will run in August and at the start of October.  During the workshops participants will decide the artwork that will be used for the art exhibition. The art exhibition will be displayed in and around Bournemouth and Dorset.
Check out the CSHV twitter @BU_SeldomHeard to share information about the upcoming workshops

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