The Eighth International Support Women Artists Now Day/SWAN Daywill be celebrated around the world on Saturday, March 28, 2015 and throughout March and April. This is a grassroots "do it yourself" holiday, and everyone is invited to join us in honoring women's creativity.
There are no fees or application forms required to participate in SWAN Day. If you decide to create a SWAN event or if you are doing any event in March or April featuring women artists, we invite you to create a free listing on our official SWAN Calendar.
We will be featuring SWAN events in the WomenArts Blog and newsletters in the coming months. If you want us to write about you, one of the best ways to let us know about your event is to create a listing in the SWAN Calendar.
Ways To Participate in SWAN Day
- Organize Arts Events for SWAN Day – There have been over 1,200 SWAN Day events in 24 countries in the past 7 years. Join the fun by organizing an event in your community!
Your event can be a performance, exhibit, rally, parade, workshop, or any other activity that draws attention to women artists or raises money for women artists in your community. To post your event on our website, please visit our SWAN Calendar and then click on the link labelled “Post Events” at the top right of the SWAN Calendar page.
We have posted Publicity Tools and Fundraising Tools to help you organize your event, and you can download our official SWAN Day logo. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.
- Host a SWAN Day Party – Gather friends at your house to talk about ways that you might help the women artists in your community. Invite local artists to speak at the party or use the WomenArts Network to find artists that you would like to support. If you want to find films written and directed by women to show at your party, you can check out our page of Websites with Helpful Information about Women in Film.
- Donate to Your Favorite Women Artists – If you love seeing the work of a particular woman artist, send her a check on SWAN Day to help her make more art. If you are having a gathering, ask everyone to contribute some amount of money and then make a group decision about which women artists you want to support.
- Introduce Students to Women Artists in the US & Elsewhere – If you are a teacher, tell your students about SWAN Day and introduce them to women artists! Use theWomenArts Network, our list ofDirectories of Women Artists, or other sources to find local women artists you could invite to your classes.
- Start Wearing SWAN Shirts, Jewelry and Other Items– Show your support by wearing shirts, jewelry and other items featuring swans. When anyone asks you, tell them you are wearing swans because you want to see more art reflecting women’s perspectives. These casual conversations are a great way to make people more aware of the discrimination faced by women artists. You can make your own SWAN items or check out our SWAN shirts, hats, and mugs in the SWAN Store at:www.cafepress.com/womenarts.
TWO MIDDLE EASTERN WOMEN'S PLAYS IN
SAN FRANCISCO
Tara Grammy as Mahmoud
Golden Thread Productions, a feisty San Francisco theatre company that focuses on plays about the Middle East, is presenting two irreverent shows from Toronto that challenge expectations of Middle Eastern art and artists –Mahmoud by Tara Grammy and Dear Armen by Kamee Abrahamian and Lee Williams Boudakian.
Mahmoud is a one-woman show that explores three Toronto immigrants whose lives intersect – a talkative Iranian engineer who works as a cab-driver because Canadians would not accept his engineering credentials, a gay male Spaniard who is in love with Mahmoud's nephew, and a young Iranian-Canadian girl struggling to separate her identity from the stereotypes about Iranian women.
Dear Armen is inspired by Armen Ohanian, an enigmatic performer and poet who survived the anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku in the early 20th century. Integrating traditional Armenian dance, erotic performance, live music, and spoken word; Dear Armen follows young Garineh, who is studying the life and art of Ohanian in search of a role model and mentor.
You can read more about these plays, watch the video trailers, and find out about Golden Thread's ticket discounts in theWomenArts Blog.
Did You Get Your Free #StageOpportunitiess & #ScreenOpportunities Newsletters?
Women in Arts and Media Coalition in collaboration with WomenArts and the League of Professional Theatre Women is publishing free newsletters for theatre and film/video artists listing submission opportunities, grants, auditions, residencies and more. Click the links below or follow the #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps tags on Twitter.
Theatre Artists – You can see the October issue of #StageOpps (formerly the Theatre Funding News) by clicking here.
Film/Video Artists – You can see the current issue of #ScreenOpps (formerly the Film/Video Funding News) by clicking here.
To Submit a Listing – To submit a listing for the #StageOpps or #ScreenOpps newsletters, please visit the Women in Arts and Media Coalition's Submit a Listing Page.
WomenArts
1442A Walnut Street #67
Berkeley, CA 94709
Phone: (510) 868-5096
Website: www.womenarts.org
