March 20, 2013

For Immediate Release

University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert

Written by: Karissa Neely

The Clothesline Project, a national violence awareness and prevention program, will be hosted at Utah Valley University on March 28-29 at the UVU Centre Stage of the Sorensen Student Center. The free event, which includes displays and resource information, runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

“Violence thrives in silence, and the primary goal of the Clothesline Project is to break that silence. After all, only a community informed about violence can end violence,” said Jennie Briggs, director of UVU’s Equity in Education Center, the event organizer.

The Clothesline Project is a display of T-shirts created by survivors of violence, or created in honor of someone who has experienced violence, and hung on a clothesline for others to view.

“The Clothesline Project is a powerful witness of the violence many live with, and it provides a healing outlet for those who were forcibly silenced,” Briggs said. “Its goals are to raise awareness and stir the viewers into action in an effort to end the epidemic of violence.”

The Clothesline Project is open to the public, and blank T-shirts will be available, free of charge, for anyone wanting to share their story. The shirts can be made at the display, or they may be made elsewhere and dropped off at the Clothesline Project at a later time.

The Clothesline Project has been displayed at UVU at least twice each year since 1998. Though this event falls at the end of March, the Clothesline Project is generally displayed in April and October to commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness and Domestic Violence Awareness months, respectively.

Between 150 and 200 new shirts are made each semester. The Equity Center has over 2,000 shirts and because the center cannot hang them all at once, they rotate them each semester, so each shirt is seen at least once per year. T-shirts made at the UVU Clothesline Project can be viewed on the online Clothesline Project (see below).

“Each shirt is one survivor’s testimony of her personal experience with violence. Some shirts in the display show fear, anger, or pain, while others show hope and healing. Each shirt represents its creator’s feelings, but does not reflect every survivor’s attitude,” Briggs said. “The shirts in the Clothesline Project are not censored. This allows survivors of violence to tell their story in their own personal way. We ask all visitors to the Clothesline Project to be respectful.”

For more information, visit clotheslineproject.info. For information on volunteer opportunities please contact Briggs at the Equity in Education Center, 801-863-8498, or by email at jennie.briggs@uvu.edu. The Clothesline Project is supported by UVU’s Turning Point: Center for Personal & Career Development and UVU’s Women’s Success Center. The Equity Center Clothesline Project can be borrowed at no cost to any organization interested in displaying the shirts at their events.

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