WHALE Arts has been delivering art, music and drama in Wester Hailes for over 20 years. Our Textiles Group, established to make a banner for the 100th anniversary of the Suffragette Rally in Edinburgh in 2009, is one of our most vibrant groups.
Attended by a diverse group of women from across South West Edinburgh, many overcoming personal adversity and barriers to inclusion, our group has gone from strength-to-strength. We retain a deep commitment to social justice and have produced:
cot quilts and cushions for local children and families in an area of high economic and social exclusion blinds for a local health project therapy room benefitting people with cancer and those who care for them textile murals in a local library encouraging literacy amongst children appliqué/embroidery and sewing to chart our stories and personal growth.
We need your help to grow our group. Our social aspect and peer support ethos is important to us and we want to develop a monthly, home-made soup day, leading to a recipe calendar/booklet for sale. We also want to make links with those like us across the world, including the purchase of a beautiful, hand-made fabric from a Kenyan women’s micro-business for use in our workshops. Any additional funding will be used to pay for a new sewing machine.