Sisters Speak Out

Healing begins with voice. There is a hardening process that takes place when a girl or a woman is taken advantage of or abused relentlessly. She closes up. She shuts down. She puts up a protective wall around her. The emotions entangled in that hurtful experience become knotted up somewhere deep down inside of her. And she carries on with her life—in survival mode. But when a girl or a woman can give voice to those deep, destructive feelings of shame, fear, guilt, hurt, and powerlessness—then she can begin to heal. Sisters Speak Out is an opportunity for girls and women to grow out of those damaging life experiences and find healing and empowerment through artistic expression.

“I was very concerned about children who had been at the most damaged level,” says Sisters Speak Out Founder and Author Missy Crutchfield. “I was motivated to bring those children back to life and inoculate others against the same fate by prompting the community to band together to advance awareness using the arts and social issues and building relationships with arts partners and others committed to this mission.”

Project Clothesline
Soon after she started building the new Department of Education, Arts & Culture, Crutchfield had the opportunity to facilitate the Project Clothesline workshop at a women’s support group at the Partnership for Families, Children, and Adults. Project Clothesline is a powerful healing experience that gives victims a plain, white t-shirt as their artistic canvas to give voice to what is in their hearts as they write and paint on the t-shirts. Since the Partnership began its Project Clothesline, 5,200 t-shirts have been created with amazingly heart-wrenching yet liberating messages.

One shirt with a crying face painted on it declares “Please Stop, I’ve Lost Everything, Do You Feel Better Because of What You’ve Done to ME?” Another shirt states in squiggly letters, “I Feel Scared.” Another t-shirt says in stark words, “My LIFE was TAKEN because my Husband was ANGRY.” Another t-shirt boldly declares, “Hands are not for hitting.” These are the voices of real women and children who have been hurt deeply but who are beginning to move through the healing process as they finally release the feelings they have been holding in for years.

As Crutchfield led out in the workshop, she realized there was really no need for long explanations. The women and children instantly connected with the project at hand, diving into creating messages and drawing pictures on the white t-shirts in front of them. Crutchfield was moved as she saw the finished products—the words and pictures were stirring. “The arts are an instrumental vehicle for healing social issues,’ Crutchfield says. “The t-shirt project is healing for victims emerging as survivors. I was so moved by their words. I began thinking how can we take this to the next level, how can we connect the dots? This stuff is good—how do we bring it to life. That’s when I began to think of the spoken word and theater piece—the Clothesline Speaks.”

The Clothesline Speaks
After struggling to find someone to take the project and run with it, Crutchfield decided she needed to move forward with the project because it was important and it needed to happen. She began consulting with writer Virginia Cowie to pull the phrases off the t-shirts and arrange them in a spoken word theater piece—“The Clothesline Speaks—a Vignette of Voices”. As the powerful words, phrases, and colors were pulled from the t-shirts they became alive. “A Vignette of Voices” opens with…

Voice 1 Voice.

Voice 2 (spoken with held back anger) I am a person. I hurt….Now I cry. When I see
my face and /remember

Voice 3 /Remember

These three voices tell the stories of women and children who found the strength to speak out against violence—telling their stories through painting t-shirts. These voices also tell a universal story—the story of the voiceless many who have been hurt deeply and yet carry on in silence—their voices stifled by fear and shame.

“Sisters Speak Out Against Violence: The Clothesline Speaks, Vignette of Voices” debuted at the Domestic Violence Coalition at the University of Chattanooga in October 2006. After the vocal performance and slide presentation of the t-shirts, the audience sat silently, reflecting on the powerful visual and vocal presentation of the Clothesline Project coming to life.

Stand Up, Speak Out
Several years prior to receiving the inspiration to create “Sisters Speak Out,” Crutchfield attended a fundraising event at the Children’s Advocacy Center, a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive services to children who are the victims of abuse. “A former Miss America came to speak for the event and shared how she had been a victim of sexual abuse,” Crutchfield says. “During her reign as Miss America, she used her crown to raise awareness and combat child sexual abuse.” Toward the end of her presentation at the event, the former Miss America looked out at the audience, and said if anyone had been abused to stand up. About one-third of the audience stood up immediately, and then slowly more and more people joined those who were already standing. “I looked around the room, which was fairly balanced between men and women, and almost everyone was standing. It was just one man and myself who were the only ones still sitting,” Crutchfield says. “And I should’ve stood up. But I didn’t have the courage at the time. From then on I decided to stand up.”

Sisters Speak Out
As Crutchfield and the Department of Education, Arts & Culture began “Sisters Speak Out” workshop sessions discussing issues of violence against women and finding healing and empowerment, “Sisters Speak Out” began to emerge as something much more than a spoken word theater piece. Working with young girls on discussing violence and abuse issues, Crutchfield began to realize a different approach was needed. Often the young women’s own family members were the abusers, and they did not feel safe or comfortable enough speaking openly about their experiences in workshop sessions. That’s when the idea took root for an “empowerment” piece which would take a preventative and healing approach in sharing the message of “Sisters Speak Out” with girls and young women.

Crutchfield began working with writer and editor of Chattanooga Teen Scene, Melissa Turner, to piece together “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment.” The words of empowerment are built around the “I Am” phrase. “I Am” is a powerful statement of confidence and affirms strength and beauty and character. “I Am Beautiful.” “I Am Honest.” “I Am Responsible.” “I Am Respected.” “I Am Passionate.” “I Am Compassionate.”

As “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment” developed into a “second act” of the theater piece, Crutchfield and EAC Cultural Arts Specialist Dorothea Richardson began workshop sessions discussing empowerment with teenage girls. The girls openly talked about the words that make them feel empowered—respect, honesty, responsibility—and then they transferred those messages onto quilt squares for a “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment” quilt designed by Richardson.

Some of the girls in the workshop wrote afterwards…

Girl 1 “My word means to be ‘honest’ to others and to love others if you want to be treated the same, you should treat them the same.”

Girl 2 “The word Respect means to do the Right thing. Be honest. And don’t be mean to others. You have to show Respect for you to get Respect.”

Girl 3 “When we started I was thinking, about what the word empowerment means. Then they told me. One word that means empowerment is successful. I picked successful because I am successful and that’s what I want to be when I grow up.”

Girl 4 “Empowerment. I really didn’t know what this word meant, but I do now. I
started thinking about self-confidence and protection. We as young women need to have confidence in themselves. My friends should come and attend this program. And everyone should have confidence.”

In February 2008, the two-act “Sisters Speak Out Against Violence” and “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment” opened for “Vagina Monologues” at Encore Theatre in Chattanooga. In the months following the theatrical debut of “Sisters Speak Out,” Crutchfield sensed there was still a missing piece—Fashion and Beauty from the Inside Out. Crutchfield began working on the piece over the summer, envisioning a fashion show experience that ends the “Sisters Speak Out” trilogy with awareness and celebration.

“Sisters Speak Out: Making a Fashion Statement!” adds the stories of four young women modeling their own fashion designs as they strut their values—self-respect, culture and heritage, wisdom for making right choices, and caring for the environment. “Fashion and beauty have always been a doubled edged sword,” Crutchfield says. “We want to be beautiful, we want to be valued, we desire to be desired. But at what price? And whose values have we adopted? When 10 year old girls are anorexic and magazines glorify walking skeletons—when models do whatever it takes to be the right size, weight, and figure…something’s wrong. Fast forward to a more compassionate fashion future: Strike a pose.”

Connecting the Dots
On August 8, 2008 the full three-act play “Sisters Speak Out” debuted at Encore Theatre in Chattanooga. “Sisters” as it is fondly known, has grown from a one act play to a complete three act play to include the following components: “Sisters Speak Out Against Violence” (arranged by Virginia Cowie); “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment” (writing and arrangement by Melissa Turner); and its newest component, a fashion show titled “Sisters Speak Out: Making a Fashion Statement!” (writing and arrangement by Missy Crutchfield). The play continues to be performed at community centers and theatres to share the message of healing and empowerment with as many people as possible. “Sisters” also continues with workshops where girls and women discuss empowerment and share their messages visually on quilt squares or t-shirts. A “Sisters Speak Out” documentary will debut online to share the story on a global level.

From that powerful dream she had years ago, to the Clothesline Project facilitation, to a spoken word piece, to a full three-act play, workshop sessions, and a documentary—Missy Crutchfield founded “Sisters Speak Out”—a project that connects the dots between social issues and the arts in a real and tangible experience from painting t-shirts or quilt squares to hearing the voices of healing and empowerment. “It’s all about flipping the downward spiral up,” Crutchfield says. “It comes down to choices. I constantly keep finding ways to connect and make a difference in the world.”