Archives in Action: Celebrating The Women of Cheshire!
We are well underway with a fascinating creative programme to uncover and celebrate women’s stories in the archives.
Artist Cath Campbell is working with us in the lead-up to the opening of the new archive centres, and into 2027. Her role is to engage people creatively with the information and stories held in the archives.
Cath is developing public engagement projects that focus on the stories of women and girls. As you can imagine, women’s stories are not represented to the same extent as men’s, and this becomes even more apparent when exploring the lives of minority or disadvantaged groups. However, the team are finding some brilliant people within the collections, which is really exciting.
The first project to go live is the 20,000 Women Zine Project, which aims to help redress the historic imbalance of women’s stories in the archives. We’re inviting people to share stories of women and girls living in Cheshire in 2026, in the form of zines — handmade magazines.
The zines will become a special collection held within the archives, and a selection will go on display at the Archive Centres in 2027.
There are lots of opportunities for communities to get involved across Cheshire …
10 artists are leading workshops with community groups
School resources are available for Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils
Family resources will be available for community spaces by the summer holidays
Online resources are being developed so people can participate from home
On Saturday 23rd May there will be a drop-in zine workshop as part of the launch of Chester Heritage Festival, 11am - 4pm. Come along to Exchange Square by the new Chester Market and get creative!
If you are interested in getting your group or school involved, please email artswest@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
