<h2><span><span><span><strong><span><span>About the “Skate and Create” Project</span></span></strong></span></span></span></h2>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The project which Mérida developed and ran, with support from the ROLL Models program, was an eight-week “Skate and Create” program for girls ages 9-14. Although Project Fearless had already been running a skateboarding program before joining the ROLL Models program, this was a unique opportunity to combine skating with new creative outlets and skills for the girls. Alongside skate sessions, they created zines and helped make a short video (below!) about skateboarding and mentorship.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For Mérida, being a part of the 2020 program allowed her to get more connected with skateboarding herself, and with the larger women’s skateboarding community.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>“The meaning of the ROLL Models project was really cool because I came as a non skateboarder – I was learning how to skateboard – so for me I was one of the least experienced when it comes to skateboarding. I know that skateboarding is so much more than actually being on the board; it is the community, it’s the art and the culture which I love. That was a thing we really wanted to show to our girls because a lot of them really liked the idea of skateboarding – the community and the teamwork – but they maybe actually thought “I’m not good at skateboarding”. So we wanted to create a space for developing other discourse like: “Hey, it’s not about who can make the best trick, it’s about how much you loved it, how much you had fun, how you could be on the film crew and still be part of the skateboard community and take advantage.”</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Mérida also told us about how she had to adjust her original project idea due to COVID-19 disruptions:</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

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<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>“We were really lucky because we were still able to meet in person. In Spring we couldn’t… but then in Summer and Autumn in Amsterdam we were allowed to meet in person so we were able to create the video during that time together, which was great. One of the aspects we had to change was the fact that we were hoping to have an in-person screening, but we could not do that. So we had to do a digital screening for our groups which was a shame because we were hoping to make it pretty big. I think we handled the situation and we were lucky to do that. We were actually able to put it in action.”</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Project Fearless Is about girls going places. They are aiming to enable more girls to become whatever they want; scientists, engineers, builders, makers, creators or to get to the top of any ladder they wish to climb- They want to equip girls with the tools to succeed in any aspect of their lives by plugging the gap currently left by society. By enabling girls to define how they see themselves from scratch, they will, in turn, rewrite how the world views girls in general.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>We are super excited to announce that Project Fearless has just launched the new video about their 2020 girls’ skate program, called “How to be a Roll Model”.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

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<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>“The idea was to work on the side. So in summer we made magazines, then we created a video called ‘How to be a Roll Model’. This did feature the girls in our program but the girls also worked alongside a female and non-binary film crew. The crew told them about the film industry; the girls had to use different resources to film themselves skating. The images the girls put together explains skateboarding as more than who makes the biggest trick, it is also about creating spaces for others, using your imagination… it’s like free flow, a bunch of fun.”&nbsp;</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>
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