Martha’s Birthday Message – Finding Hope in a Ukulele
WomenArts Executive Director Martha Richards discovers the joys of playing a ukulele and the ways that creativity can help us survive tough times.
Women in Theatre Mobilize at Berkshire Leadership Summit
WAM Theatre hosted the Berkshire Leadership Summit to help mid-career theatre women acquire the skills and confidence they need to get top leadership jobs.
Women in the Arts & Media Coalition Organizes Summit on Women Playwrights
Shellen Lubin, the indefatigable co-president of the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition organized a half-day summit in New York on November 30 to discuss strategies to increase the number of productions of contemporary and historical plays by women. She planned the summit in collaboration with WomenArts, the Dramatists Guild, and the National Theatre Conference. Lubin’s goal was to […]
Celebrate International Women’s Voices Day on January 21
The Women’s Voices Theater Festival in Washington, DC is inviting theatre artists around the world to organize free readings of unproduced plays by women playwrights on January 21, 2018 as part of the new celebration called International Women’s Voices Day. The Women’s Voices Theater Festival made history in 2015 by producing 52 world premieres of plays by […]
Check Out the Winners of the SWAN Day 2017 Photo Contest!
The fall is a great time to start planning for Support Women Artists Now Day/SWAN Day 2018. To get inspired for your event next March, check out these winning photos from our SWAN Day 2017 Photo Contest.
Women Film Directors Challenge Hollywood Sex Discrimination
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 […]
Art Became the Oxygen: An Excellent Resource Guide for Artist-Activists
The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has just published Arts Became the Oxygen: An Artistic Response Guide. The free, downloadable, 74-page booklet is an excellent new resource for artists who are looking for creative ways to respond to current events. It is packed with lively descriptions of artists who are helping communities respond, recover, and rebuild […]
Lara Downes’ Unique Videos Link Women Poets and Composers
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. […]
Project ArmHer Challenges Stereotypes and Stigmatization
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, […]
The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project
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 […]
Moms-In-Film Aims to Energize the Careers of Parents in Film & TV
“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 […]
The Women of Appalachia Project Challenges Stereotypes Through Art
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 […]
Waking The Feminists: The Gender Parity Revolution in Irish Theatre
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 […]
Lori Greene’s Mosaics: Public Art That Empowers Communities
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 […]
Women Speculative Fiction Writers Form Broad Universe
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 […]