Saturday, October 8, 2011

SWAN Celebration in Carbondale, CO

I was in Carbondale, CO last night for the kick-off of a month of Support Women Artists Now/SWAN celebrations there.  A team of local artists led by visual artist and filmmaker Gayle Embrey did a terrific job and the kick-off was a completely sold-out/standing-room-only event.  The evening included a gallery show, a reception, and a performance of music, dance, and theatre.  This spectacular cake created by Christine Bergstrom and Donna Lilah was the highlight of the reception, and it tasted as good as it looked!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Introducing Harmony: The WomenArts Cultural Partnership Project

I am very excited about the announcement of The Harmony Project, the latest addition to WomenArts' ongoing efforts to bring the full power of women’s artistic creativity to the struggle for women’s rights and social justice.

This is an exciting time for women, since there are so many organizations that are advocating for our rights. What would happen if those groups started collaborating with women artists to advance their causes? Could we win the battle for women's equality faster by engaging people's hearts and minds through the arts?

Thanks to a generous grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, arts activist Arlene Goldbard and I are investigating these questions. To start the conversation, Arlene has interviewed ten amazing women artists about their collaborations with women's organizations, and she will be writing about them for us in the coming months. She will be sharing advice and wisdom about how to get started, what to consider as you enter into partnership, what makes the work strongest, and much, much more.

Meanwhile, I have been working on some model partnerships here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and will post periodic reports on my progress.

If you would like more information about the Harmony Project or our model partnerships, please visit www.WomenArts.org/harmony.