Member Article

Survivors Manchester is calling for the city to nominate its best busker talent

Mancunians are being asked to nominate their favourite busker as part of an brand new awareness campaign to support the 1 in 6 men who have had unwanted sexual experiences, including abuse and assault.

#1BlueString is a global campaign, created by 1in6.org that asks guitarists at all levels, in all genres, to replace one of their six strings with a blue string to help raise awareness of this alarming statistic and show solidarity with those affected.

Survivors Manchester, a charity that provides support to male survivors of sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation, has brought the campaign to Greater Manchester.

CEO and founder of Survivors Manchester and survivor himself, Duncan Craig, said: “#1BlueString is a global campaign that was created by our amazing friends at 1in6.org in the USA and from the moment they told us about it we have wanted to bring it here to Manchester, home of so many musical icons and iconic guitar sounds, New Order, Joy Division, Oasis, Smiths…

“You only have to walk down Market Street to know that our city is absolutely packed full of musical talent and we want to celebrate this and do what we do best here, stand together and stand tall As a survivor myself, I know how devastating isolation is, so I want to get other Mancunians to stand up and show solidarity with the 1in6 men that have had these experiences and help them #BreakTheSilence”.

Mancunians are being asked to send a video or link of their favourite local buskers, along with the performer’s name and contact details, to Survivors Manchester via Twitter or Facebook so that they can be officially crowned ‘Manchester’s Best Busker’.

All entrants will be reviewed by the team at Survivors Manchester, with shortlisted artists invited to perform at a live final, ‘Manchester’s Got Busker Talent’, at The Printworks on International Men’s Day, Sunday 19th November. The overall winner will receive £500 in vouchers.

All nominations must be received by Sunday 5th November and shortlisted artists will be contacted by Wednesday 1st November and will be given a blue guitar string and plectrum.

Judges of Manchester’s Got Busker Talent, will include the Survivors Manchester’s ambassadors, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale actor James Sutton; Edinburgh Fringe Award winning comedian Richard Gadd; UK’s leading dating industry expert and blogger, Charley Lester; and male rape campaigner and DJ, Sam Thompson, aka BassDuckFresh.

For further information on Survivors Manchester, please visit www.survivorsmanchester.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by JAMpr .