Press release: Innovate UK award

Campaigners for adult survivors of child sexual abuse receive national innovation award

• Innovate UK is delivering a £6.2 million* boost to the UK’s future innovation leaders.
• Kate McStraw, Executive Producer and Co-Founder of Viv Gordon Company, who campaign to increase visibility, voice and community for adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA), is one of 233 high-potential entrepreneurs from across the UK to receive tailored business support and funding for their company.
• The award will support the upscaling and go-to-market launch of An ABC of CSA, a unique, co-produced creative resource to support better conversations about CSA.
  

On behalf of South West-based Viv Gordon Company, Executive Producer and Co-Founder Kate McStraw has received a national award from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency. Building on the success of Innovate UK’s targeted programmes, such as Women in Innovation and Young Innovators, this latest funding is designed to find and support fresh innovation talent from across the UK.
 
Viv Gordon Company has been awarded a grant of £50,000 to support the upscaling and go-to-market launch of An ABC of CSA, a unique, creative education resource created to support better conversations about child sexual abuse (CSA), a global issue that impacts 11million adults in the UK alone**, and many more worldwide.
 
Additionally, as one of the 233 high-potential innovators selected, Kate will also receive 12 months of tailored business support to help her develop the company and business strategy.
 
Launched as a prototype exactly a year ago, An ABC of CSA is a set of 26 beautifully illustrated alphabet cards co-created by Viv Gordon with over 40 CSA survivors and illustrated by Imogen Harvey-Lewis. CSA survivors often struggle to find the words to talk about their experiences, and many support, health and social care professionals lack the knowledge to engage in confident conversations with our community, which reinforces isolation and social exclusion.
 
The award will enable investment in production, branding, cross-sector consultation and additional staff capacity for An ABC of CSA to roll out this CSA survivor-led resource and corresponding training service to relevant sectors nationally. These include front-line sexual violence support services, therapists, police and justice departments, social services and mental health services.
 
Kate McStraw comments, “I’m delighted to have received this level of support from Innovate UK. To have recognition of our work as innovation within communication and social equality feels incredibly powerful. It is also poetically timed as it’s been a year since we first launched An ABC of CSA. I am excited to develop my business skills and upscale our company to be able to deliver this work with wider reach and impact.”
 
Viv Gordon, Artistic Director of Viv Gordon Company, adds, “Our work is about harnessing CSA survivor creativity to social change. Each journey of survival is unique and impossible to encapsulate in 26 cards. The ABC isn't a text book – it’s a nuanced, emotionally resonant reflection of survivor experiences designed to put scaffolding around difficult conversations, not to tell anyone how to think or feel. The cards sing with grief, rage, love and hope. We are so grateful to the diverse group of 40 CSA survivors who shared their words to make this powerful resource.”

CSA impacts all demographics and all protected characteristics, yet we lack representation in the arts sector and wider society. Our experiences have been taboo and omitted from diversity and inclusion discourses. An estimated 75% live with long term mental health needs***.

The inclusion of An ABC of CSA into this prestigious award programme, which was amongst the most highly engaged funding competitions Innovate UK has ever delivered, is not only a significant business development milestone for Viv Gordon Company; it represents significant progress towards increased access and inclusion and social change for the CSA community.
 
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 * based on individual grants of £5,000 plus a £10,000 contribution to living allowances or £50,000.
** Radford, L. et al (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. NSPCC
*** www.csacentre.org.uk

About Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the UK’s innovation agency. It works to create a better future by inspiring, involving and investing in businesses developing life-changing innovations. Its mission is to help companies to grow through their development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.