#campaigns

There’s no better way to start of the year than with a zero waste cosmetics workshop! As part of our Arts Unlocked Program, we organised and hosted a workshop at the Skip Gardenin Kings Cross, teaching students how to make their own face masks, toothpaste and deodorant from natural and organic ingredients you can find in your cupboard.

Most great ideas start with a really bad period, which is exactly what brought about the inspiration to start our own Evironmenstrual Campaign. Partly inspired by an international campaign initiated by the Women’s Environmental Network. The campaign was to raise awareness of the environmental and health implications that single use sanitary products have on our bodies and the environment, as well as period poverty, which remains global issue. We created a poster campaign advertising the discounted menstrual cups that we sell at the Students’ Union, amongst facts about period poverty and the issues surrounding period stigma. 

We successfully managed to lobby the university to place FREE sanitary products in all the women’s and non-binary toilets at the UAL sites, which is a fantastic win!

We are also aware that many women cannot afford to buy menstrual products, or even sanitary products, and so we have been setting up workshops, teaching students how to sew their own reusable sanitary pads. We will be celebrating the campaign with our period party in the LCC Darkroom Bar on the 26th of June! There will be FREE wine, a pub quiz and lots of fun prizes to win!

As a student I noticed that the bins at UAL didn’t work. They were confusing, mismatched and didn’t do a great job at separating waste. Upon visiting the Mitcham Waste Depot, we discovered that due to our lack of recycling, our waste was becoming contaminated. This contamination and lack of recycling, was costing us money to dispose of our waste, being subsidised by our student fees! So after many discussions with the university, we worked with the comms team and the UAL estates team to replace the bins across all UAL sites! Buy the next academic year there will be food waste bins, and clearly labelled recycling and waste bins.

On another note of sustainability, through the cost of study working group set up by our Educations Officer Anita Israel, the university has agreed to set aside specific funding for recycling and materials swapping spaces, across UAL campuses. This will hopefully encourage a low waste culture at the university, and save students from spending massive amounts of money buying new art supplies and fabric!

As link officer for London College of Fashion and a Fashion Design and Development Graduate, I have worked closely with the LCF events team and an external organisation La Marche, to put on several talks and events, focusing on representation and inclusivity within the fashion industry. The fashion industry has a huge problem with representation and it’s lack of diversity and opportunities need to be discussed more. By collaborating with La Marche we hosted some incredibly positive events, creating spaces for students who feel underrepresented, and a chance to network with industry professionals. 

I think it’s really important to note that without the staff at Arts SU, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve half of my successes this year. I want to say a massive thank you to all the staff for supporting me, the UAL students for inspiring me, and my sabbatical team, for teaching me so much about so much. It’s been an incredible year, with it’s highlights and it’s challenges. Becoming an independent Arts Students’ Union and shaping the future of the SU, has been one of the many challenges we have faced as a team. And I cannot wait to see what the new sabbatical officers and amazing staff team will achieve next year!

Content Marketing Advice: The Media and The Medium

Content marketing advice is ever-changing as platforms, algorithms, markets and technology changes. So when it comes to media and the medium, how do you create the best approach to content for yuor marketing campaigns?

Content, it’s the dreaded C-word that we can overthink until we are blue in the face!

Content is such an ever-changing beast, that it seems when we are looking to improve our…

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