Why I think the events we attend shape us..

Hey guys! I’m running for the Events Officer in my University and I realise that people may want to know more about why I’m applying and what my ideas could possibly be. So I thought, as I’m not going to be able to speak to everyone in depth & that the speech is quite short on the day that I would write my proposed ideas and the initiatives behind these ideas on the blog just in case anyone wanted to understand what I’m campaigning for. I understand this is VERYYYY long, so below is a shorter manifesto but yeah if you like my ideas, and believe I have the capacity to actualise it. Vote for me!!

I believe the current exec have done a good job in ensuring that the events implemented are impactful and seek to satisfy both the enjoyment and the educational side of event planning. Both in their long term schemes and their more short term events. This is why I seek to modernise, expand and adapt the current schemes and events that are already deeply engraved into the culture of the society. My main focuses will be: ACS Mentorship Programme, Afrofest and Black History Month. With the aim to eradicate the subtle divisions within this united force of the general Afro-Carrabiean Society. The most important division I believe is the wider participation of 3rd years, postgraduate students and to a lesser extent 2nd years. I understand this is due to work constraints and the demand that university has as one progresses from first to final year. This is why, I believe that making small changes in the way things are structured could not only be beneficial in ensuring that the postgraduate students feel as if there is no barrier of entry into the society but also make it seem viable for involvement in the society not just at events such as Take Me Out or the Ball. A way in which this could be done is through the adaptation of the ACS mentor scheme. I believe that this should entail a more family based dynamic on the basis that where there are more people who are “mentoring” inevitably the less pressure that this will have on one single individual and the less effect it is likely to have on their personal lives. The family dynamic will include 1st years as the brothers and sisters, 2nd years as the parents, 3rd years as aunties /uncles & postgrad students as the grandparents. Evidently, as one goes further down the chain of a family dynamic there typically becomes less interaction with the immediate family but nevertheless they’re still involved in the family dynamic. The main purpose of this, is that there is a chain of accumulated wisdom so it’s not only the freshers that feel like they are being helped, but 2nd years learn from 3rd years and so forth. The main ways this would occur is through the group chat created, and a social starting off in freshers week perhaps the games nights, or alongside other opportunities to make friends such as friendship speed dating and then one term 1 final social, depending on appetite this would determine what was to go on in 2nd and 3rd term - especially as workload is far more demanding. I genuinely believe this relates to the ethos of the society, as it provides a mechanism in which there is support throughout the years, but not only academically but on a more interpersonal level. In Addition to this, after speaking to others I thought it would be beneficial to additionally introduce a “connect group” programme, where different families can get together (based on subject disciplines e.g. social sciences, humanities etc) and discuss issues surrounding their subject, time-management, internships, work experience or just anything in general. If successful this initiative could be expanded into day trips, perhaps weekend trips and just more opportunities to be able to get to know your “family” and understanding of different cultures. This would provide a way for those who want this constant community to be able to have it but again takes away pressure from the immediate family and acts as a way to further mediate and minimise the amount of time being spent on this for those who simply don’t have time to help as much as they could as a connect group could work with minimum of 5 people.

The second event I seek to modernise is Afrofest as I wholeheartedly believe that it is a powerful mechanism to create a united front between so many different tribes, cultures and countries all under the aim to showcase our talent as well as to understand our culture. It is for this very reason that I believe there are a plethora of ways to expand influence, impact and wider participation of the event. This can be done by seizing the platform the society has to teach and celebrate our history but to also showcase our talents. Whether that be directly in the show, or in what I would like to propose as an “entrepreneurial exhibition.” This would increase the participation beyond the scope of the “creative industries” for a chance to attract the involvement for those who have businesses that they’d like to showcase but don’t necessarily have the time to be fully committed to Afrofest. Another proposed idea was those with beauty based businesses could perhaps offer their services for Afrofest such as their makeup, hair services in exchange for perhaps a monetary price depending on the sponsorship available. This would allow room to also expand the auction initiative as this could now ensure that a directory of services is now available.

My final main implementation, arguably the biggest is Black History Month, I want to take the current initiative of “Black Out”, but to appeal it to a wider audience beyond the scope of ACS. I believe it’s important to make such an event multi-society based. The first way this could be done is to do more collaborations with societies such as NSOC, Ghana Soc, Warwick African Summit, Warwick Anti-Racism society, East African Society and Carrabiean. Particularly the latter two, as often times they can feel very segregated from the society perhaps due to majority of ACS consisting of West Africans. This is why, if we were to do a full back history month week or perhaps utilise the whole month we could come up with innovative informative workshops which could enrich us about different cultures, the history of these cultures and the impact it has on our everyday lives - internal and external speakers could also be utilised. One of my main ideas for the BHM was to again seize this opportunity to showcase talent by having a talent show, open mic - perhaps with practical support from one of our sponsors. Similar to the the PENSA Creative Christian Summit, the Aspire Conference initiative could be expanded for those who are involved in creative industries such as photography, journalism, YouTube etc. A main part of this BHM take over , could be to attach a charitable element to this, which again would again allow the involvement of all with sport charity matches in football, netball and basketball. We could do piazza stalls, games and even a quiz night where we invite our flat mates, course mates to really engage with the wider community and create a platform for our history to be heard. I don’t think it should stop there, I think it could be part of a wider scheme, if the society were to adopt a yearly charity. Finally, similar to what the previous exec did, is the RAW take over to appeal to the wider Warwick community who are perhaps uneducated or simply intrigued in getting to know more about Black History. This again would involve the aforementioned societies where effective discourse will be nurtured on topics specific to each society.

So you might still be thinking, why ACS? I find beauty in seeing different groups of individuals from all walks of life interact and engage with each other to advocate for a united cause - particularly when it involves finding ones identity. The events that the ACS run help to shape ones identity, particularly freshers. I can only speak for myself, but I grew up in a predominantly white school, a school in which I was the 1% so finding and educating myself about my history was actually something I had to do myself. I realised that whilst I took this initiative to do it for myself, a lot of people didn’t. So when I went to 6th form, I said there has to be change. This is when my friends and I birthed the 1st ever Black History Month event in our School- in 2019. Can you believe it?? 2019! So yeah whilst it gave me great joy to be able to plan such an experience alongside my friends , there was an overwhelming sense of shock to realise that in 2019 there was still this nativity to our culture from within the community and from outside of it. I want the events we have to educate and shape us as the next generation to be able to share our expertise with those who come after us. If we have knowledge of our identity, the hardships our ancestors went through we can stop history from subtly repeating itself and influence our spheres. Whether this be a creative industry, a political one or wherever . I want the events that ACS have to shape and change our perspective whilst creating a safe environment that embraces our differences and realises that we work better when there is unity not division.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions contact me on my socials - particularly instagram where I’ll be doing a social media takeover! Get ready for videos and a Q&A! #VoteGrace