North Shore Music Theatre To Host Beverly PD's Silent Witness Project, October 25

On Monday, October 25, 2019, from 4p-7p, in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and in cooperation with the Beverly Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit, North Shore Music Theatre will host an exhibit of the Silent Witness Project in the theater's lobby. Members of the Beverly Police Department will be present for the event. The event is free. All are welcome. Live music will be provided by Emily Lewis (harp) and Olga Kouznetsova (violin).

The silent witness project consists of 11 free-standing life-size silhouettes honoring lives lost as a result of domestic violence. On the silhouettes are the narratives of the 11 victims who lost their lives in Massachusetts as a result of domestic violence from January 1, 2021 to August 29, 2021. Narratives have been gathered from the state wide domestic and sexual violence coalition Jane Doe Inc. These narratives focus on honoring the men, women and children who died this year in the state of Massachusetts due to domestic violence. Please help us in bringing awareness to this important issue. Together, we can make violence socially unacceptable in our community. Below is a paragraph stating how the silent witness project began.

"In 1990, a group of artists and writers, upset about the growing number of people in Minnesota being murdered by their partners or acquaintances, joined together with several other Domestic Violence agencies and organizations to form Arts Action Against Domestic Violence. These compassionate individuals felt an urgency to do something that would speak out against the escalating domestic violence in their state. They set out to create something that would commemorate the lives of the 26 people whose lives had been lost in 1990 as a result of domestic violence. After much brainstorming, Arts Action Against Domestic Violence began to design 26 free-standing, life-sized red wooden figures, each one bearing the name of a person who once lived, worked, had neighbors, friends, family, children--whose life ended violently at the hands of a spouse, ex partner, or family member. A twenty-seventh figure was added to represent those uncounted murders that went unsolved or were erroneously ruled accidental. The organizers called the figures the Silent Witnesses."

Today many states and countries are involved. Since its inception, Silent Witness has been instrumental in the discovery and promotion of successful domestic violence reduction projects. The original twenty-seven women (witnesses) whose murders prompted the passion to create the Silent Witness Initiative have prevailed.

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