In her words....
This week marks a year since I ran the Leeds University Union Art Society COVID 19 campaign as Art Soc President, alongside an incredible committee.
In one week we delivered a campaign where we distributed free packs of art supplies to students in Leeds prior to lockdown. We had turned to art in hard times previously and wanted to help others to do the same.
On the Saturday: we came up with the idea, aiming to reach 20 or so students self isolating
On Sunday: we posted the idea on the Leeds Student Facebook group and got hundreds of likes in a matter of minutes. Knowing we had to scale up with limited time and money I wrote press releases for local and national media to raise the profile and get sponsored. We used our social media pages to publicise the campaign.
On the Monday: I was on Radio 1 talking about the campaign. We got a donation of sketchbooks worth hundreds of pounds from Silvine. We also cleared the shelves in a few local art shops.
On the Tuesday: I was on the local ITV news talking about the campaign.
During the rest of the week we co-ordinated volunteers to help distribute packs, and I spent a lot of time out on my bike delivering and handed in my dissertation.
By the end of the week we’d distributed over 150 art packs. I’d love to work at that pace again!
A final word
“Massive credit to the Union, through societies I learnt so much and had a fabulous time at uni, and it helped me get the job I have now!”
Catherine
