Case Study: Mildura Rural City Council

The Equal and Safe Community Banner

Why it is important - The Equal and Safe banner initiative was instigated and led by Gender Equity Action Sunraysia (GEAS) in partnership with ten local service organisations.

The banner artwork (featured below) was created by young women in the Mildura community during a workshop with a local Art Therapist, who explored the theme of gender equality and preventing violence against women. Council and local organisations partnered with community ‘Arts Mildura’ to use its space for the workshop, its existing youth art network and used its shopfront in the centre of town to display the banner for several weeks. The banner was displayed post 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, from December 2023 through to the end of January 2024.
Council wanted to create a banner that caught people’s attention and did more than say ‘respect women’ or ‘say no to violence against women’ and gave community member ideas about practical actions they could take. Council developed values-based messaging with members of Gender Equity Action Sunraysia though several workshops. The focus was on identifying the vision, the barrier and turning the essential actions into examples people could understand and implement.
The GEAS members involved were highly committed and patient, creating and refining the words over several weeks. Council and partners were very fortunate to have access to free webinars by Ro from Intertwine in 2023, to refresh their understanding and we accessed Ro’s advice on Basecamp for a final review of the banner messaging.
The banner is 3m x 1.5m and is moved around high-profile locations during the 16 Days of Activism by Council and partner organisations.

Call to action - To review and refine values-based community messaging for gender equality and preventing gendered violence. This is an important step. Consider combining arts-based projects with community engagement as an action to respond to gendered violence and the demand for community-based actions.