The Unlocked ‘Zines
With lockdown restrictions having its impact on all of us from March 2020, The Manbassador Project adapted by producing a small magazine which was then distributed by organisations and community hubs across Leeds, distributing food parcels to the more vulnerable in the city.
Many thanks to every one of those 32 hubs that were getting our zine out to their local communities, especially their men within.
5000 copies of each of our 11 editions of the zines were distributed in this way every month, from May 20 to April 21, culminating in the last one (6000 copies) celebrating men’s achievements and art successes across Leeds over the year. (perhaps a pic of the inner of this zine)
With new funding from The National Lottery behind this latest phase of the Project, a new Men’s group was set up that feeds ideas into the magazine. Syretta from Zest is running this new Editors’ Group. The Leeds Unlocked zine will continue to give men information, education and entertainment and take away something positive from the magazine - be that an uplifting story from a local man, group or an opinion leader.
One crucial aspect of the zine are the listings – we list many of the groups and activities for men that take place across Leeds and we highlight a range of services available to men to make positive changes to their lives, such valuable information together in one space.
We have had some of our Manbassadors refer men to our groups via the zine so it really does work!
We look forward to see how this Men’s group will grow and how it will develop its creativity. They will have a focus on helping to produce the zine; getting involved in mental and physical health activities and producing relevant articles about them, taking photos, and coming up with the focus for each edition.
