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WomenArts News & SWAN Day News Archives
Thanks to the support of the Valentine Foundation and the CDQ Charitable Trust, WomenArts published a series of newsletters called the WomenArts News from February 2005 through March 2007. From 1995 until 2009, WomenArts was known as The Fund for Women Artists.
In September 2007, we announced the first International SWAN Day, and starting in January 2008 some of our newsletters became the SWAN Day News.
PLEASE NOTE:
If you are looking for copies of our Funding Newsletters that list upcoming funding and contest deadlines for film/video artists or theatre artists, please visit the News & Reviews page on our site to find links to the most recent issues.
If you are looking for our press releases, they are archived at:
www.WomenArts.org/press/PressReleases.htm
Happy SWAN Day 2011!
This issue included a message from Executive Director Martha Richards thanking everyone for participating in the Fourth International SWAN Day and the annual list of all the SWAN Day events in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Read the March 26, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Ways to Celebrate SWAN Day in the Bay Area
This special local issue focused on ways to celebrate SWAN Day in San Francisco, where WomenArts is based. Recommended events included the 40th Anniversary Season of Oberlin Dance Collective at the Yerba Buena Center (which featured 3 women choreographers), Ruined by Lynn Nottage at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Fabulation by Lynn Nottage at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, The Oldest Profession by Paula Vogel at Brava Theatre, Crackpot Crones by Terry Baum and Carolyn Myers, the Martinez Arts and Crafts Festival, a Feminist Tour of the De Young Museum led by Margaret Danielak, Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave at the Legion of Honor Museum, and the San Francisco Women's International Film Festival.
Read the March 24, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Women Take Center Stage on SWAN Day
For the fourth international SWAN Day, several groups around the U.S. and elsewhere are organizing festivals and other innovative events. This issue discussed the SWAN Day upcoming SWAN Day celebrations in Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Miami, New York, Washington, DC, and Sofia, Bulgaria.
Read the March 22, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
SWAN Season Begins!
The SWAN Day 2011 season got off to a great start. In this issue we congratulated the No Name Players and Georgetown Theatre Company for raising money for their SWAN Day events with successful Kickstarter campaigns. We also described some of the upcoming SWAN Day events including Middle Eastern Poetry & Activist Panel in San Francisco, Two Celebrations of Women in Theatre in New York, a 6-Day Women's Film Festival in Denver, and other favorites.
Read the March 4, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
There's Still Time to Organize a SWAN Day Event
It's fun to organize SWAN Day events, and this newsletter reviewed basic information about the holiday. WomenArts congratulated SWAN Day Connecticut and the SWAN Spoken Soul Festival for obtaining fiscal sponsorships from Fractured Atlas in January. We also announced the Athena Film Festival, a Celebration of Women and Leadership organized by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Women and Hollywood, the excellent blog and website created by Melissa Silverstein.
Read the February 10, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Add Online Fundraising To Your SWAN Day Event
WomenArts has partnered with Fractured Atlas and IndieGoGo to make it easier for SWAN Day organizers to do online fundraising. The newsletter explains how these services work and discusses the advantages of online fundraising. Also, WomenArts has met its December Challenge Grant Match. Carol Jenkins, former president of the Women's Media Center selected the ten winners of our raffle who will receive the book "Sisters: An Anthology" from Paris Press.
Read the January 21, 2011 issue of the WomenArts News>>
WomenArts Receives A Challenge Grant
Martha Richards explains that a generous individual has agreed to match the next $5,000 in new gifts that WomenArts receives. She also reports on her meetings with SWAN Day organizers around the country and a new grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation for the WomenArts Feminist Cultural Partnership Program.
Read the December 12, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Women Artists Salute Women's Suffrage
For Election Day in the United States (November 2, 2010) we wanted to honor all of the women who fought so hard to obtain the vote in the U.S. and elsewhere. We shared three examples of women artists celebrating women's suffrage - a new choral work initiated by the Victoria Women's Trust in Australia, an adaptation of an iconic image of the suffrage movement conceived by Jan Lisa Huttner, the co-creator of SWAN Day and the author of our Hot Pink Pen film reviews, and a film about Seneca Falls by Louise Vance. Read the November 2, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Happy SWAN Days All Over the World! (List of 2010 SWAN Day Events)
This special SWAN Day 2010 issue of the WomenArts News provided a list of SWAN Day 2010 events around the world.
Read the March 27, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Sophie Dowllar Organizes SWAN Day Kenya &
SWAN Day Boosts Filmmaker Louise Vance
In this issue we interviewed Sophie Dowllar, organizer of SWAN Day Kenya and provided a link to a video from SWAN Day Kenya 2008 featuring music by Lydiah Dola. We also gave an update on Louise Vance, a filmmaker who raised over $10,000 from her SWAN Day 2008 event for her film Seneca Falls. The film was featured on public television stations during March.
Read the March 18, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Happy International Women's Day
Film Star Famke Janssen Celebrates Women Artists
For International Women's Day 2010, we shares a new SWAN Day video featuring film and television star, Famke Janssen, we discussed an all-women exhibit at Centre Pompidou in Paris, and we congratulated Kathryn Bigelow on being the first woman to win an Oscar for "Best Director" in the 82 year history of the Oscars.
Read the March 8, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Special Valentine's Issue Featuring Arlene Goldbard
Imagining a World that Loves Artists & Women
Part of our work at WomenArts is to try to imagine a world that will truly love and respect artists and women. We are constantly on the lookout for people who model that attitude, and artist and activist Arlene Goldbard is one of our favorites. For Valentine's Day we share some excerpts from a keynote address that she gave at the California Arts Advocates' Visioning Retreat in January 2010.
Read the February 14, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Recognizing Artists As Workers: Towards a New WPA
In this issue Executive Director Martha Richards asks why artists are not recognized as workers in our country's economic recovery plan. Is there a way to persuade President Obama to include artists in his federal jobs programs as President Roosevelt did during the Great Depression of the 1930s? Also, in this issue NewShoe Theatre Group makes their one-act play about women of the WPA available for free downloads from the WomenArts website.
Read the February 9, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Special Issue: Focus on Haitian Women and Artists
This issue was a response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti. It featured a poem by Haitian-American artist, Lenelle Moïse, a list of recommended books about Haiti by novelist Edwidge Danticat, and recommendations from the Ms. Foundation and others of relief organizations that focus on women in Haiti.
Read the January 15, 2010 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Join Us for SWAN Day 2010!
In this issue we announced that the Third International Support Women Artists Now Day will take place on Saturday, March 27, 2010 and the surrounding weeks. All artists, arts supporters and other allies are invited to join us in celebrating this new holiday by creating events that feature women artists. We also announced the WomenArts Store at www.cafepress.com/WomenArts.
Read the December 31, 2009 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Sixty Years of Stubborn Creativity
On the occasion of her sixtieth birthday, WomenArts Executive Director Martha Richards reflects on the "stubborn creative instinct" that is our greatest source of power, especially when we work together.
Also in this issue, we announced the WomenArts Events Calendar and thanked programmer Hemalatha Manickam for her excellent work on the calendar software.
Read the December 9, 2009 issue of the WomenArts News>>
Being Thankful for the Arts:
Novelist Susan Stinson Reflects on Art in Hard Times
In this special Thanksgiving issue of our newsletter, we asked novelist Susan Stinson to write about why she persists in the arts in spite of the financial hardships. She talks about the ways that having a regular practice of making and seeking out art generates relationships, skills and experiences that get her through hard times.
Read the November 25, 2009 WomenArts News>>
The Fund for Women Artists Celebrates 15 Years:
New Energy, New Name, New Blog
Executive Director Martha Richards announces that The Fund for Women Artists is celebrating its 15th anniversary by changing its name to WomenArts. Also, WomenArts has established a new blog at http://blog.WomenArts.org and a Facebook fan page.
Read the September 18, 2009 WomenArts News>>
Celebrating Mother's Day with Isabel Allende & Pamela Tanner Boll
See our video of Isabel Allende speaking to women artists in honor of SWAN Day 2009 and an interview with filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll about women who are artists and mothers.
Read the May 8, 2009 SWAN Day News>>
Happy SWAN Day All Over the World!
See the list of SWAN Day 2009 events all over the world.
Read the March 27, 2009 SWAN Day News>>
Broadway Women Celebrate SWAN Day at Lincoln Center
Leading Broadway theatre artists will be celebrating SWAN Day this year with a special panel presentation at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. SWAN Day at Lincoln Center is presented by New York’s League of Professional Theatre Women in conjunction with Curtain Call, their stunning exhibit in the library's gallery featuring the work of 110 women costume, set, and lighting designers from the 1890's to 2009.
This issue also introduced our new Letters to the Editor program. Read More>>
Spotlight on Florida Spoken Soul Festival!
SWAN Day Organizer Deborah Magdalena Builds
Spoken Word Audiences in Miami
Deborah Magdalena is organizing her second SWAN Day event this year, an ambitious three-day Spoken Soul Festival in Miami, Florida. We interviewed her last week and share some of her insights. (Published March 12, 2009) Read More>>
Quick & Easy Ways to Celebrate SWAN Day
There are almost 80 events on the SWAN Day Map so far!
If you are doing an arts event featuring women during March or early April, you can express your solidarity with women artists around the world by posting your event on our SWAN Day Map at http://events.womenarts.org.
If you want to participate, but don't have a lot of time, here are a few ideas for quick and easy SWAN Day celebrations.
(Published March 4, 2009) Read More>>
Updates about SWAN Day and the National Endowment for the Arts
This issue includes announcements about new features on the SWAN Day Map and news about the National Endowment for the Arts budget.
The House of Representatives voted 246 to 183 to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill includes $50 million in direct support for arts jobs through the National Endowment for the Arts and language that would have prevented museums, theaters, and arts centers from receiving stimulus funds was removed. The Senate also approved the bill, and President Obama signed it into law on Monday, February 17. (Published February 20, 2009) Read More>>
The Second International SWAN Day is Off and Running
SWAN Day 2009 is building momentum. Last year the first International SWAN Day was celebrated in March 2008 with 160 events across the U.S. and in 10 other countries on 4 continents. This year we are hearing from women all over the world as they make plans and organize events.
An animated film festival, plays, dance performances, concerts, film screenings, prose and poetry readings, storytelling, and house parties are being listed at www.SwanDay.org as part of this growing international celebration of women artists on March 28, 2009 and the surrounding weeks. (Published February 12, 2009) Read more>>
Tell Your Senators Today to Include the Arts
in Our National Economic Recovery Plan
The Obama administration is moving quickly on its economic recovery plan, and we need to advocate for artists to be included in as many programs as possible. Since women artists have traditionally been paid less than their male counterparts, we also need to make sure that women's needs are met. (Published on January 30, 2009) Read More>>
Celebrate With Women Artists Around the World in 2009
The first international Support Women Artists Now Day was celebrated with 160 events around the world. SWAN Day took flight because we were able to mobilize thousands of artists and arts supporters just like you. We put our faith in the creativity of women artists around the world, and the results were amazing! Will you help us make it even bigger this year? (Published December 30, 2008) Read More>>
Announcing Martha's
Countdown to 60 Campaign!
On Sunday, December 14, 2008 our Founder and Executive Director, Martha Richards turned 59. She announced on her birthday that she has set a goal of raising $60,000 in new membership gifts before she turns 60 next year. She is determined to raise this money so that we can keep our services accessible to everyone. Will you help?
(Published December 16, 2008) Read More>>
Tell the Golden Globe Awards Committee
To Recognize
Women Directors!
The Golden Globe Award nominations have been announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and once again, no women have been nominated in the category of "Best Director."
This year the omission is worse than usual. Danny Boyle was nominated for an award as "Best Director" of Slumdog Millionaire, but his female co-director, Loveleen Tandan, was not mentioned in the awards list. Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for "Best Picture, Drama", "Best Screenplay", and "Best Score", in addition to "Best Director".
(Published December 12, 2008) Read More>>
Announcing the Second International
Support Women Artists Now Day!
The second international Support Women Artists Now Day/SWAN Day will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2009 and the surrounding weeks. We invite you to help us celebrate this new holiday by creating SWAN Day events in your community. Your event can be a party, performance, exhibit, rally, parade, auction, or any other activity that draws attention to women artists or raises money for women artists in your community.
(This issue includes information about SWAN Day Ghana - Published October 17, 2008) Read More>>
Presidential Policies on the Arts
Polls are showing that women's votes may swing the 2008 presidential election. This issue takes a look at the candidate's policies on the arts. We compare the arts policies and voting records of Senator Obama and Senator McCain, and discuss the federal arts budget. (Published September 11, 2008) Read more>>
A Special Greeting for the First International SWAN Day!
Martha Richards sends a special greeting to women artists around the world in honor of the first International SWAN Day. "We are bringing new
harmony to the world through our songs and building
movements infused with our dance. We are
making pictures that open people's eyes, and telling
stories that heal people's hearts. We know how to turn a
rough stone into jewelry, and we are taking this troubled world in our hands and working together to make it sparkle
and shine. Our tools are our joy, our commitment, and our
immense collective creativity." (Published March 27, 2008)
Read more>>
Sandra Oh Celebrates SWAN Day With Us
Many of us have been inspired by Sandra Oh's wonderful
performances on the hit television program, Grey's Anatomy,in the movie, Sideways, or on stage in groundbreaking plays like Diana
Son's Stop Kiss. For SWAN Day, we decided to ask Sandra who
she turns to for inspiration. (Published on March 21, 2008)
Read More>>
SWAN Day Is Catching On -
In the U.S. & 8 Other Countries!
We are happy to report that as of March 12, there are 117 SWAN Day events posted on our official SWAN Day Map. There are events from coast to coast in the U.S. and in 8 other countries. They range from a festival of women-fronted rock bands
in New London, Connecticut to a performance of "Tales from the Far Side of Fifty" by women aged 56 - 84 in Oceanside, California.
All-day festivals are being planned in Washington, D.C.; Cranston,
Rhode Island; San Diego, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Published on March 12, 2008) Read More>>
The SWAN Day Store Is Open! Order Your Shirts, Hats & Mugs Now
Our new SWAN Day t-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps and
mugs are now available online. There are items with our official SWAN Day logo designed by Kristie Hansen-Kemp, and others that feature the whimsical
designs of
Mary Patterson. The store is online at www.cafepress.com/swanday.
(Published on February 22, 2008) Read More>>
You Can Make SWAN Day News!
It's easy to make SWAN Day news with our new Sample Press Releases and Mayor's Proclamation in the Publicity Tools section
of our website at www.SwanDay.org. Publicize your SWAN Day
event and impress your friends and potential donors by getting
the Mayor of your town to officially recognize your creative
accomplishments on Support Women Artists Now Day.
(Published February 8, 2008) Read More>>
Put Yourself on the SWAN Day Map!
Are you planning an event for Support Women Artists Now Day? If so, you can now post that event on the official SWAN Day
website at www.SwanDay.org. You can click on the link to Host an Event or find a place to
celebrate by clicking on Search for events. (Published January 31, 2008) Read More>>
Make a Resolution to Support Women Artists in 2008!
You Are Cordially Invited
To Create A Brand New Tradition
On Saturday, March 29, 2008 -
Create A World Where Women's Stories Matter!
(Published December 30, 2007)
Read More>>
Announcing the First International
Support Women Artists Now Day!
Help Us Create a New Holiday for Women Artists
on Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Fund for Women Artists is inviting all artists, arts supporters, and scholars to help us create Support Women Artists Now Day, a new annual celebration for women artists in all art forms to be held on the last Saturday of March, which is Women's History Month. The first Support Women Artists Now Day (SWAN Day for short) will be held on March 29, 2008. (Published September 2007) Read More>>
Hurray! A New Feminist Art Center &
Two Major Exhibits of
Women's Art!
The new Elizabeth A. Sackler Feminist Art Center at New York's Brooklyn Museum is a milestone for women artists. Also, two major international exhibits of feminist art opened in March 2007 - Global Feminisms at the Sackler Center and WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at the Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles. (Published March 2007)
Read more>>
Oscar 2007 Nominations: Some Good News,
But Slow Progress for Women
There were more women Oscar nominees to root for in 2007, and the charming and outspoken Ellen DeGeneres was a lively host for the 2007 Academy Awards ceremony. There was good news in the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject categories, but women writers and directors still did not get the recognition they deserved in most of the feature film categories. Read More>>
The Fund for Women Artists Guide to
Taking on the Film Industry (March 2006)
Women around the country are mobilizing and taking action to improve opportunities for women in film. We asked three women in the field who have been active promoting women directors and their films to talk about the challenges they see and their strategies for change. The newsletter features interviews with - Tara Veneruso of Movies By Women, Debra Zimmerman of Women Make Movies, and Jan Lisa Huttner of Films for Two. Read more>>
Oscar's Lost His Head This Year -
It's Time to Take Action (February 2006)
The Academy Awards are a snapshot of America's creativity, but when it comes to women's visions, the picture has been cropped. Women were ignored again this year in the key Oscar categories of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original and Adapted Screenplays.
In this issue The Fund for Women Artists launched the Push the Envelope, Please campaign to tell Hollywood that giving the male half of every story is not enough. We asked people to sign our Open Letter to Hollywood and send the movie industry a message that it's time to unleash the power of women's creativity and Push the Envelope, Please!
Read More>>
Telling The Stories We Need To Hear:
Artists Explore Reproductive Freedom (January 2006)
At current rates, about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she is 45 (Alan Guttmacher Institute). Where are these women’s voices in the echo chamber of public debate over reproductive rights?
In this issue we interviewed three very different artists whose work explores some of the human stories at the heart of the policy debates. Cindy Cooper is a playwright who created Words of Choice, a collection of writings ranging from a poem by performance artist Alix Olson to the text of the landmark decision Roe v. Wade itself. Ju-Yeon Ryu is a dancer and choreographer whose Beyond Good and Evil - Coin Locker Babies portrays the heartbreaking histories of three Asian women in America, and Lisa Link created Warnings, a multi-media installation that uses collage and video montage to invite viewers to reflect on the uses and misuses of politics, propaganda, and power in the history of reproductive health. The issue also provides many links to other information about reproductive rights. Read More >>
Artists Respond to Hurricane Katrina - October 2005
Many women artists are among those affected by Hurricane Katrina. They have lost homes, jobs, artwork, materials, instruments, equipment, offices and performance spaces, not to mention the very communities that sustain them. This newsletter lists resources for artists in the affected areas, as well as ideas about ways to support artists, financially and otherwise, or to get involved in addressing the underlying social conditions that led to so much suffering. Read More>>
Expanding the Sense of Humanity In Us All :
Celebrating Lesbian Artists
- June 2005
What's it like to be a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender artist in these schizophrenic times? For our June newsletter we asked three lesbian artists on the WomenArts Network - painter Lenore Chinn from San Francisco, playwright Sharon Bridgforth from Austin, Texas, and novelist Susan Stinson from Northampton, Massachusetts. Each artist responded in ways that were generous and inclusive. In their online interviews, they discuss the support networks that sustain them in their own communities, as well as their efforts to reach out to larger audiences. As Susan Stinson says, "I write for everyone, for the expanding sense of humanity in all of us."
The newsletter also included sidebars about Kate Clinton's new book of essays, What the L?, and Carolyn Gage's play, Ugly Ducklings, which is designed to address homophobia among teens, as well as an annotated list of lesbian artists and links to organizations that advocate for better LGBT representation in the media.
Read More>>
New York Times Claims Hollywood Is "A Gender Balanced Model"
April 2005
On Sunday, April 24, 2005, The New York Times ran an article on the cover of its Arts and Leisure section with the title, Hollywood's New Old Girls' Network by Nancy Hass. The article discussed four powerful women at major movie studios and came to the conclusion that women have "finally buried the notion that Hollywood is a man's world" and that "some now see Hollywood as a gender-balanced model for the rest of corporate America."
In fact, men directed more than 90% of the 250 top-grossing films released in 2003, and 20% of the films employed no women directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers or editors. This newsletter included letters to the NY Times from Martha Lauzen, Terry Lawler, and others about the true situation of women in Hollywood. Read More>>
Peace Begins With A Vision - March 2005
To commemorate the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we interviewed three women who are using their art to bring home the heart-break of war and to imagine alternatives.
Octavia McBride-Ahebee writes poems that tell the painful stories of civil wars in Africa. Haifa Bint-Kadi is a Palestinian-American mosaic artist who brings Muslim and Jewish women together to create public mosaics. Seema Sueko is a playwright who has explored the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in her own work, and whose company, Mo'olelo Performing Arts, plans this fall to stage A Piece of My Heart, Shirley Lauro's poignant play about women who served in Vietnam. The newsletter also includes a list of links to websites of artist groups working for peace.
Read More>>
It's Oscar Time, Where Are the Women? February 2005
At the 2005 Academy Awards, women's films were, once again completely absent. There were no Oscar nominations for a woman-directed film for Best Picture, none for Best Director, or Best Original Screenplay.
Since Hollywood is not telling our stories, we decided to profile three women who make highly personal films on issues such as aging, violence, war, and racism. Sheila Margaret Sofian, Kagendo Murungi, and Ruth Sergel spoke with The Fund for Women Artists about defining success on their own terms, their drive to tell the true stories of our experiences, and finding the right combination of perseverance, encouragement, and cash to keep on making the films we need to see.
Read More>>
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