Enjoyable, collaborative and fulfilling – that’s how the participants of the MoJo On The Green project described their experience of working to promote sport for all without fear of discrimination during the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.
Thanks to Year of Young People lottery funding, the 6-strong team of 18-25 year old LGBT+ activists received training from media co-op and partners LEAP Sports Scotland to develop their mobile journalism skills and plan a social media strategy for the Games.
During the 10 days, the activists interviewed athletes and artists at Glasgow Green and Pride House, producing video features for LEAP’s Football V Homophobia Twitter account and media co-op’s Facebook page, encouraging people to share the content on their on social platforms.
Highlights of the project included taking part in an event at Pride House exploring the legacy of the Year of Young People and getting the opportunity to interview cycling legend Philippa York in front of a live audience.
22-year old Jo Reid, who’s just graduated from Glasgow University said: “It’s a fantastic experience and I’m delighted I now have real practical experience on social media filmmaking”.
Fraser Knight, who’s in his final year studying Multimedia Journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University enjoyed sharing experiences of being part of the community, bouncing around ideas for content and watching the follower numbers increase and building engagement and momentum on social media. He said: “The creative aspect of the project was incredible in terms of us being able to plan, film, edit and share in the style we wanted to”.
Reflecting on his experience, GU History student Stephen English, 20, said: “Highlights for me include collaborating with the team on ideas for our videos, it was very refreshing because we had a good chemistry together. I feel like in those two weeks I conducted some worthwhile activism for my community and I hope I am afforded more opportunities like this to raise awareness about the problems faced by the LGBTQ+ community”.
Members of the Mojo On the Green have now been invited to share their experience of mobile journalism and social media campaigning at the SCVO Storytelling conference in Edinburgh on November 22nd.