Raising awareness of Gender-Based Violence

FASHION shows are about more than just entertainment. They allow designers a chance to showcase their artistic talents. They are a platform that can be used to make a difference. For this reason, the combination of fashion and advocacy can be especially powerful. This will be the case with “Orange The Runway Vol. 1”.

Orange The Runway Vol. 1 is being held on Sunday, December 9 at Herdmanston Lodge. Jamicia Mc Calman, Founder of the Heart to Art Foundation and Orange The Runway, related that the event is a fashion, awards, arts and advocacy show with the main focus being fashion and awards. “It’s an event that’s being held in observance of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,” she said. “We will be awarding activists and advocates who have been championing the cause of women’s issues and [against] gender-based violence,” she added.

Mc Calman noted that international model Juanita Bledman will be awarded as well. Bledman is Guyanese by birth but has been living in the United States for a few years and has been making strides on the international stage, modelling for Sephora and Fenty. “We feel the need to award her for her international achievement,” she said.

The event’s original name was going to be “Purple Runway”, with purple being the colour representing domestic violence awareness. However, it came to Heart to Art’s attention that the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence were approaching. They realised that focusing on gender-based violence was more all-encompassing given the event’s purpose. Since the theme of the 16 Days this year is “Orange the World, #HearMeToo”, the name “Orange The Runway Vol. 1” was chosen.

Heart to Art Foundation was recently formed with a focus on combating mental health issues through arts advocacy. The aim is to have people use any form of art to cope with whatever mental health struggle they may be going through, according to Mc Calman.
There are a variety of designers whose work will be featured at Orange The Runway. They are Andrea Wilson from the British Virgin Islands, Isaiah Luther from Guyana and Rhoda Dox from Nigeria. Pieces from two boutiques, Rare Finz and That Look Boutique, will also be featured.

It was very much a deliberate choice to create an event combining different elements. “We didn’t just want it to be a fashion show, we wanted it to be something different,” according to Mc Calman. “It’s a charity fundraising event where a portion of the proceeds will be going towards a new project titled ‘The Safe Project’”.

The Safe Project is an organisation being launched in the coming year that will focus on gender-based issues. “I believe that, in dealing with domestic issues and gender-based violence, we often just look at women and we often neglect the men,” she said. Yet, she noted that it is men who are troubled and commit crimes against women. For this reason, she decided to found The Safe Project with Arian Dahlia Richmond, Miss Bartica Regatta 2018, as president. “In the new year we will be working specifically on partisan gender-based issues against our women and men,” Mc Calman stated. “We want to get into the community and, hopefully, get into the prisons to be able to offer counselling to the men who would have been perpetrators of gender-based violence.”

She said the goal is to help those men reintegrate into society so that they would not relapse when they leave prison.
An awards show will be part of Orange The Runway. “We know that we have a lot of young people who are out here championing causes and we believe that sometimes people deserve to be recognised for the work that they are doing,” Mc Calman affirmed.

The awards being distributed include Male and Female Activist of the Year, Advocate of the Year, the Arts Advocacy Award, the Trailblazer Award and the Award of Excellence for International Achievement. She returned to the award being given to Bledman, noting that we do not appreciate the arts enough. “It’s quite sad that sometimes persons just have to be recognised outside of Guyana,” she said.

Fashion is a statement by itself. The work that designers put into their fashion creates statement pieces and messages by themselves Mc Calman said. “We can even use fashion as a form of advocacy,” she related. “When you have [fashion and advocacy] come together it’s like water and sugar, it just blends so well,” explained Mc Calman. Patrons can expect more than a fashion show. “They can expect mind-blowing entertainment,” she said. The ambience that will be set will be a tremendous one she added. “We want people to have an amazing experience.”

Events such as Orange The Runway are important according to Mc Calman. “We as young people need more than the party, we need more than the fete,” she said. For this reason Orange The Runway is not aimed at just lovers of fashion but young people in general. “We want young people to get involved,” she emphasised. “Sometimes we feel that as young people, to get involved, we need to have all the knowledge in gender-based violence,” she said. However, activism and advocacy can start by just attending the event.

“As young people, we see what’s going on [and] we can continue to be agents of change to these issues.” She added, “It takes a community to help solve these issues that are around us, we can’t depend on one body to help eliminate or to help combat these causes.”
Patrons at Orange The Runway Vol. 1 can expect to experience fashion, advocacy and the arts at their best. They can also expect wine at its best since Winedays is one of the event’s main sponsors. Admission costs $2,000 for general admission and $5,000 for VIP tickets. Tickets are available at Herdmanston Lodge, That Look Boutique, Rare Finz and Fon Roje’s.