Many women artists have wondered whether there were any laws they could use to fight the pervasive gender discrimination they have experienced. Study after study has shown that these women are not getting their fair share of opportunities. Why can’t they just bring a lawsuit to solve the problem? In 2011, film director Maria Giese began […]
Guest Blog by Lou Fancher. Lara Downes is a critically-acclaimed American pianist who is creating a unique series of five-minute videos that feature women writers reading their work while Downes performs solo piano pieces by women composers. Her Just Like a Woman series was inspired by Downes’ collaborations with former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. […]
Guest Blog by Laura Stradiotto. In a mining community about four hours north of Toronto, a group of Canadian women with lived experience in sex work and their allies have been involved in a multi-media, multi-disciplinary arts project. Project ArmHer aims to create a safe space where women can share their experiences about the stigmatization, […]
Guest Blog by Kim Bridgford. How much do you know about women poets? Can you name women poets from other centuries or other countries? Did you know that the first recorded poet was a Sumerian woman named Enheduanna who lived over 4,000 years ago in the region that is now Iraq? The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets […]
“You can’t promote gender equality without thinking about motherhood and childcare.” -Matilde Dratwa, Founder of Moms-in-Film Imagine a room of 100 people all working in the film industry. They are writers, directors, actors, art directors, set dressers, costume designers, makeup artists, grips, electricians, cinematographers, and editors. How many would be mothers? Only 2 – or […]
Guest Blog by Sarah Diamond Burroway. “I am Appalachia. In my veins Runs fierce mountain pride; the hill-fed streams Of passion; and stranger, you don’t know me!” – from Appalachia by Muriel Miller Dressler (West Virginia,1970) Appalachia is one of the most beautiful regions […]
By Elana Gartner. Waking the Feminists has been an extraordinarily successful campaign for gender parity in Irish theatres. In a relatively short period of time, Irish feminists persuaded seven major theatres, including the two largest theatres in their country, the Abbey Theatre and the Gate Theatre, to make commitments to promote gender equity throughout their organizations. The members […]
By Jennifer Hyvonen. “I want visual art to be as accessible as music,” says public artist Lori Greene. “Music catches people right away. It is coming out of cars, stores. It’s everywhere. People crave music.” The Power of Public Art Lori Greene is a mosaic artist based in Minnesota whose murals and sculptures can be […]
By Anne E. Johnson. Not every feminist wants to be called a “broad.” At the writers’ organization Broad Universe, however, that’s exactly how members refer to themselves. The road has not been easy for female writers of speculative fiction, which encompasses science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Co-opting a term with historically derogatory and misogynist meaning […]
Activist Spotlight: Catherine Aselford, DC SWAN Day. Ten years ago, when Catherine Aselford saw the announcement for the very first SWAN Day, she immediately sent WomenArts a note saying it was a great idea. She is truly a Super SWAN because she has organized a SWAN event in Washington, DC every year since. For the Tenth […]
Activist Spotlight: Mya Kagan, The Future is Female Festival. The Future Is Female Festival was created by playwright Mya Kagan in response to the results of the 2016 presidential election. During the campaigns, Kagan had noticed that the 1970s slogan “The Future Is Female” had become popular again, and many women were recontextualizing it as a way […]
Special Post by Michaela Goldhaber. Lauren Gunderson is currently the most produced living playwright in the U.S. according to American Theatre’s analysis of the 2016-17 season. There will be 16 productions of her plays at theatres across the country this year. Gunderson has achieved the often impossible dream of making her living as a playwright, and […]
Special Guest Blog by Adryan Russ. Many women in Hollywood have a hard time getting work, but women composers have it harder than most. According to Martha Lauzen’s Celluloid Ceiling Report on the 250 top-grossing domestic films of 2016, women were 13% of the writers, 7% of the directors, 5% of the cinematographers, and only 3% […]
Activist Spotlight: Jane Vogel, Age & Gender Equity in the Arts. Age & Gender Equity in the Arts, an innovative non-profit based in Portland, Oregon, is the brainchild of Jane Vogel, an actor, activist, and clinical psychologist, who is working to end unfair discrimination in the arts. Since she recognizes that sexism and other forms of […]
Special Guest Post by Michelle Marie Robles Wallace. Ingrid Hernández is a visual artist and sociologist based in Tijuana, a city bordering the U.S. that is one of Mexico’s fastest growing metropolitan areas. Hernández has been using her camera to document the raw edges of that growth – the areas outside the city limits where […]