On March 30, 2024, women artists in Nairobi, Kenya celebrated their 16th annual Support Women Artists Now Day with a festival of music, dance, and spoken word, as well as visual arts and crafts. How have they survived the political and economic upheavals in their country, and what can we learn from them?
In her wide-ranging book, “All About Love: New Visions,” the brilliant feminist scholar, bell hooks, explored the ways that sexism, classism, racism, and capitalism have limited our capacity to love each other. She urged us to use radical love to transform society. Three years after her death, her ideas are gaining traction.
Monumental Women is forming a coalition to re-create Augusta Savage’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a 16-foot monument to the musical contributions of African-Americans, that was created for the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens, NY. Savage was the only Black person commissioned to create a piece for the fair.
A powerful coalition of groups dedicated to advancing women in the arts will host a free screening of “Finding Her Beat,” an exciting new documentary about women breaking into the male-dominated world of Taiko drumming on Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. in New York City. Reservations are highly recommended.
Golden Thread Productions will celebrate International Women’s Day in San Francisco with “What Do the Women Say? Expressions of Joy,” an evening of theatre, music, and dance featuring Palestinian women artists. There will also be Palestinian food and a display of Palestinian embroidery in the lobby.
In her beautiful new book, “Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore,” Kiki Smith asks us what we can learn about women’s lives by studying their clothes. Representing almost fifty years of Smith’s research and thought, the book features gorgeous photos of two centuries of women’s clothing.
Funda Demirel is an award-winning artist, educator, and activist who is training women and girls in traditional Turkish art forms. Her goals are to help them heal from the pain of domestic violence and gain economic independence by teaching them to preserve Turkey’s rich handicraft traditions.
The members of SWAN Day Kenya’s “Make It Happen” team have outdone themselves this year with a free all-day festival this Saturday, April 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mathare Youth Sports Association headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. Their 16th Annual SWAN event will feature over 100 singers, spoken word artists, dancers, crafts people, and more.
On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 2 p.m. the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition will present a free screening of 3 short films written and directed by women. Following the screenings, Terry Lawler, the former Executive Director of NYWIFT, will lead a panel discussion with the directors Estelle Parsons and Annetta Marion in person and Dana Offenbach online.
The Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) has just launched a multi-year survey about the challenges facing people in the performing arts and media who have children, dependent parents, or other care-giving responsibilities. Since there is not much research on this topic, please take the survey if you can.
In response to the economic devastation of their local arts community during the pandemic, the Svane Family Foundation has commissioned a diverse group of 100 San Francisco Bay Area artists for $10,000 each for a unique arts exhibition/auction. WomenArts thanks them for this bold and welcome investment.
When Cerise Lim Jacobs, Executive Producer of White Snake Projects, read about the murder of George Floyd, she wanted to do more than make a statement of solidarity. She wanted to use the full power of her art to explore systemic racism. One year later, White Snake’s virtual opera about racism and prisons is opening.
Women composers are creating amazing, cutting-edge work these days, and one of the best places to learn about them is Composers Now. Composers Now was founded by Tania León, a powerhouse conductor and composer, whose works are performed around the world. Born in Havana, León is a champion of women composers and composers of color.
SWAN Day Connecticut, an annual music festival organized by Super SWAN Jennifer Hill, will take place on Saturday, April 17 at 3 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. EST. The free show will be streamed live on the SWAN Day CT Facebook page. Jennifer Hill has built a wonderful community of women artists who have come together through her 14 years of SWAN events.
“Hollywood: Her Story, An Illustrated History of Women and the Movies” sets out to document that women have been in the film business since the flickering early days of its existence. The lavishly illustrated book provides information on approximately 1200 women in film, starting with Alice Guy-Blaché in 1896.