Performing Romani Identities: Strategy and Critique will constitute a network of performers, activists, stakeholders and academics to map current Romani performance practices in Europe through a series of site based workshops. These workshops will examine the particular challenges facing performers working with and within Romani communities in each area and consider how performance might be harnessed and consolidated to greater effect. Romani culture is marked by a history of critical performance and performativity. Romani survival in Europe, over the course of a millennium, has been contingent upon the adoption and practice of a number of performance strategies, including oral history, storytelling, music, dance and theatre, as well as upon everyday narratives that perform intelligible Romani identities for both the community itself and for non-Roma. What is the relationship between Romani performance, Romani iterations of performativity and hegemonic knowledge production? What are the slippages between the two? What is the potential in these slippages and iterations for different practices of agency, especially in light of the current violence confronting Romani subjects across Europe? There is a multiplicity of performance and performative practice by and for Romani communities across Europe; to date, however, there has been neither a consolidated approach nor a platform to share best practice across these communities. In this network, we look to address this need. In particular, we will examine the potential for social change produced from within this multiplicity. As well as mapping how such performance strategies are currently being used, through the workshops themselves, we will establish new possibilities for Romani performance as political strategy. The workshops will be organised around three key themes: Stereotypes and dominant practices of representation Diversity and the concomitant invisibility of local specificity, inherent in transnationalism Collaboration and the negotiation of methodologies that make effective engagement possible The workshops will be approached and inflected differently according to the historical and current contexts and varying challenges faced by Romani communities in each site, and constructed in consultation with the key participants. Each workshop will include an opening address by the host outlining the position in their area with a framing of the project by the PI and Co-I laying out the aims of the network. The workshops will be multilingual with local translators provided by the hosts where required. We will pay careful attention to the specifics of each locale, drawing upon local knowledge and expertise. In this way, the workshops will draw upon the arts, activist, scholarly and performance expertise of participants in order to generate a sustained response in light of the dangers of the current moment, opening up new forms of knowledge production through Romani performance practice. The workshops will be conducted in partnership with academic institutions and stake holders in Istanbul, Bucharest, Lyon and Alicante with a final symposium in London to disseminate findings and develop a strategy to secure future funding. These workshops will map best practice, including the use of technology. A key focus will be on the commonalities and differences between, within and among Romani communities from diverse sites. We are especially interested in the technological possibilities for linking communities through performance. In view of the urgency of the current crisis facing Roma, we will explore the opportunities afforded by the integration of multimedia and live performance. Particularly, how this integration might be utilised most effectively for an engaged social practice within and across Romani neighbourhoods, communities, and national borders.

How can a country express the complexities of life after genocide? In Rwanda, twenty years after the violence that killed up to a million people, writers, artists, filmmakers and journalists have been working hard to communicate difficult choices made by the government, local organisations and civilians whilst reconstructing the country. Much has changed: a generation of young people have grown up since 1994, and Rwanda has experienced unprecedented economic success. However, internationally the country is still primarily associated with the moment of genocide. In August 2012, the AHRC "Translating Freedom" network hosted a workshop in Kigali to discuss how life after genocide is mediated through transitional justice processes and the arts. One key issue emerging from our conversations was Rwandans' lack of control over images of their country circulating internationally. Photographs of Rwanda are predominantly taken by visiting outsiders and very few Rwandan photojournalists and artists have access to international networks. In response to this gap, King's Cultural Institute have funded a photography workshop in Kigali in November 2013. Facilitated by Nigerian photographer Andrew Esiebo and Magnum photojournalist Dominic Nahr, Rwandan participants will be mentored in developing their own unique narratives. The "Visualising Transformation in Rwanda" project will enable these images to reach a wide international audience through an exhibition at Somerset House, curated by culture and genocide specialist Dr Zoe Norridge, Rwandan artist Christian Nyampeta and Autograph ABP Director Mark Sealy MBE. The exhibition will coincide with the twentieth anniversary of genocide in Rwanda and will constitute the first exhibition about life after genocide by multiple Rwandan photographers to be shown internationally. Somerset House, with its central London location and extensive marketing networks, offers an ideal platform for bringing together new audiences. The famous courtyard is a respectful setting for commemoration activities and the exhibition will introduce visitors to previously unseen images that reflect upon the past and celebrate change since genocide. One of our key objectives for the exhibition is to connect people who commission photography with Rwandan photographers. Too often, international NGOs, media organisations and gallery spaces send international photographers to Rwanda to take images for fundraising and awareness raising campaigns, news stories and exhibitions. By engaging with Rwandan photographers directly these commissioners could support local artists whilst also gaining unique insights into life after genocide. The ways in which a country represents itself influence national identity, international relations, tourism and global public perceptions. But often in the aftermath of violent conflict, governments, foreign aid agencies and NGOs focus exclusively on development priorities such as health, poverty reduction and education. By foregrounding the role of the arts in changing national and international perceptions, we will contribute to a growing body of evidence about the ways in which artists can assist with post-conflict recovery through our policy briefings. Collaborations are vital to the success of the entire project. The curation is a partnership between King's, Autograph ABP and Rwandan artist Christian Nyampeta. In Rwanda we are working with Carole Karemera (Ishyo Arts), John Mbanda (The New Times), Illume (creative agency) and Inema Arts Centre, amongst others. This exhibition has the potential to demonstrate that Rwandans can set research agendas, that impact activities resulting from research can affect international creative industries, and that universities can play an active role in highlighting global inequalities. Above all, it will ensure that Rwandan-authored narratives commemorating the twentieth anniversary of genocide are seen internationally.

Putting Ourselves in the Picture, - Part 2: Engaging with Industry (POITP 2) aims to capitalise on the research activity undertaken by the partnership group and the participant women in part 1 of POITP, to create further impact for a group of emerging photographers who are from migrant and refugee communities, in the worlds of both art based and commercial photography practice. Putting Ourselves in the Picture project (2021 - 2022, POITP 1) was an inspiring training and mentorship program for marginalised women, from refugee and migrant communities, who had no access to photography training or education. The project was created by Fast Forward; Women in Photography based at University for the Creative Arts in partnership with Women for Refugee Women, Autograph, Impressions Gallery, Work Show Grow and National Galleries of Scotland and funded by a AHRC EDI Engagement Fellowship led by Professor Anna Fox. It culminated in the creation of outputs including a series of podcasts, short films and a publication. POITP was inspiring in many ways, the most significant aspects being how these new photographers were able to tell their own stories from their own perspectives and how engaged many of them became with the medium of photography itself and started to think about ways of making a living in photography. This is what has motivated this application for follow on funding. From now on, in this application, I will refer to the female and non-binary groups that we will be working with as the 'emerging photographers' This project is based on the knowledge that opportunities in photography for marginalised women and non-binary photographers are few and far between and there is an increased need for change in the burgeoning histories of the photography industry and the white male dominance of this industry since its inception. This application, for follow on funding, aims to increase the impact of the research from the AHRC EDI Fellowship, POITP 1, by informing current debates around photography, women and non-binary photographers in relation to employability and well-being. The aim is to develop new skills with a group of emerging photographers in preparation for working as professionals in the photography industry and to enshrine important values and knowledge into the photography industry (which includes photographers, printers, designers, galleries, archives, agencies, collectives, libraries, studios, curators and editors) regarding the employment of women and non-binary photographers and in particular marginalised women. POITP 2 will lead up to the creation of The International Photography Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Group, a group of people from the photography industry and from education who will work together to create tool kits, advice and skills development on employment and employability for future emerging photographers from diverse backgrounds.

Cold War Camera aims to increase and deepen public understandings of the Cold War and its legacies in Latin America. Recent academic scholarship, and events such as the ongoing Efrain Rios Montt genocide trial in Guatemala or the late 2014 declaration of a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, demonstrate that the conflict remains a potent political and cultural force. This project proposes that photography is a powerful means to promote timely reflection on and public awareness of the legacies and memories of the Latin American Cold War. Its premise is that photography had and still has a key role in the cultural politics of the global conflict: through state surveillance operations; through deployment in resistance to state-sponsored terrorism; and by its role in commemorative and judicial processes. Questions of visuality - of what can (and cannot) be seen, known, and felt, - stand at the centre of the cultural politics of the Cold War and its aftermath. Cold War Camera is a collaboration with the Centro de la Imagen (Mexico's premier institution dedicated to the diffusion and discussion of photography) and the internationally-recognised Guatemalan photographer and activist Daniel Hernandez-Salazar. The project takes the form of three practitioner workshops to be hosted in partnership with cultural institutions dedicated to the preservation and promotion of memory of the conflict in lesser known sites of Cold War: The Museum of Memories (Asuncion), National Police Historical Archive (Guatemala City) and the University Cultural Centre Tlatelolco (Mexico City). These locations represent productive points of comparison: i.e., the Guatemalan genocide was ethnically inflected; Guatemala and Paraguay hold important 'archives of terror' and have undergone truth commissions, whereas Mexico's archival record is patchy and the process of transitional justice has stalled. The workshops will bring photographers from different Latin American countries together with professionals from the partner institutions, and with human rights activists, curators and academics to stimulate creative work that investigates what can be learned from the local histories, lived experiences, material traces of the Cold War, as well as its transnational connections. It will lead to a major exhibition funded, produced by and displayed at the Centro de la Imagen's prestigious Mexico City gallery to open in October 2017.

Professor Anna Fox is one of the most acclaimed British photographers of the last thirty years and was recently awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Since 2016 she has instigated, developed, and promoted Fast Forward: Women in Photography, a research and development project which has created a global network with far reaching impacts on the equality, diversity, and inclusion for women through photography. This ED&I Fellowship offers an opportunity to build on the Fast Forward project and the aims and objectives of the 2020 Manifesto, to support junior colleagues and to work in partnership with a progressive-thinking group of collaborator organisations to support a community of marginalised women. Through a series of innovative workshops and mentorship activities, the aim is to increase awareness of women's unheard life stories using photography and story-telling practices by increasing their skills to use photography to create new work. Most recently the coronavirus crisis has made the telling of women's stories all the more urgent, highlighting the inequalities within society for marginalised groups of women. Each workshop will run for between five and ten days and will involve tutors and mentors as well as at least six participants who are in contact with the partners. By promoting practical skills, networking skills, and industry knowledge, the women will develop confidence to tell new stories using the language of photography. The four workshops will be run by the partners starting in February 2021 and will be followed by a period of mentorship up to the end of the project enabling professional development in terms of networking and the production of high quality outputs, owned by participants, and widely disseminated, with permission. The work created and key moments in the processes undertaken at the workshops will be recorded, with participants' permission, on film and/or sound and aim to show the development of skills, confidence, and understanding. By working with the partner organisations, we will actively connect women to new networks, new experiences, and valuable role models, and set up a sustainable mentorship scheme. Outputs include artists books and prints made during the workshops. An exhibition of works will be organised along with a series of smaller scale exhibitions in local libraries and community centres, and a series of podcasts of interviews/discussions with both participants and mentors will be disseminated, designed to inspire women outside the project as well as to act as a legacy (These may vary with the restrictions due to the Covid situation). Outputs will be designed to create maximum impact through effective use of the website and social media of Fast Forward and through that of the partners and host institution, and will include promotion of exhibitions, publications, short films, and podcasts. The outputs will also be presented at the conference Decolonising the Curriculum (working title only) at University for the Creative Arts in late 2021. This work offers an approach to improve conditions and opportunities for marginalised women in UK society (such as refugees) by using the tool of photography. We will also be developing our relationships with our partners enabling future ways of working together to support women in photography. The work of this fellowship is designed to improve well-being, creativity, and employability of those involved. By bringing practical experience and new knowledge to the women taking part in the workshops and mentorship activity they will gain understanding and grow confidence in their newly acquired skills and inspire new creativity and abilities that will contribute to future well-being. It is vital to give marginalised women a voice and the opportunity to tell their stories, stories that have frequently been hidden. Photography has the ability to tell stories in a way that neither the written nor spoken word can do.