Moms in Film Aims to Energize Careers of Parents in Film & TV

Moms-in-Film Aims to Energize 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. There 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 to be more precise, an average of 2.3% would be mothers. A year ago, filmmaker Mathilde Dratwa wrote an article sharing her thoughts about becoming a parent in the face of these daunting statistics. The positive response spurred her to write other articles and to start hosting meet-up groups in New York where women could talk about their experiences as mothers working in film and television. Before she knew it, she had given birth to Moms-in-Film, a non-profit dedicated to energizing the careers of parents in the film and television industries. Christy Lamb started hosting meet-ups in Los Angeles and joined Dratwa as the Director of Strategy and Development for Moms-in-Film. In addition to creating a variety of events, writing articles, and launching innovative advocacy campaigns, the energetic duo are addressing the challenge of providing childcare for parents working on location. They are working with designers and childcare experts to create special trailers that can be used as mobile childcare units. At Austin's SXSW Film Festival in April 2017, Moms-in-Film offered free childcare to the attendees in one of their "Wee Wagons," and the response was phenomenal. Chris Shellen, the director of Spettacolo, said that "free, mobile childcare at festivals and on sets is a game-changer in the fight for gender equality." Read more about the innovative work of Moms-in-Film on the WomenArts Blog>> "She" by Dr. Amelia Kemp's Music Therapy * SWAN Day Song Contest - Third Place Winner * "This song and video were created to remind women that each of us can emerge and live up to our most sacred potential which is often found in our creativity."     - Dr. Amelia Kemp, Singer-Songwriter & Co-Founder of UR2 Global Dr. Amelia Kemp aka "Dr. K's Music Therapy" writes songs that tell the story of the human condition. Her goal is to uplift and bond souls together in a way that heals and connects mankind to the Source of their being. Early in her life, she was accepted into the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts.  Later she was honored as an "Artist for Peace" by Gandhi's Be Magazine. She has written and performed songs internationally for many global social projects such as Global Woman Peace Foundation and the World Hospice Alliance. She was a member of the Oprah Winfrey Belief Team, a project to promote spiritual diversity and tolerance. As a psychotherapist and singer/song-writer, she co-founded UR2 Global - an arts project to uplift the self-esteem of humanity with liaisons on five continents. Throughout her career, Dr. K has been struck by how many people do not feel good about themselves at their core. On a regular basis she found herself saying to clients and audiences, "You are too (UR2) - valuable, worthy, wonderful, and special" - hence, UR2 Global was created. She has also written extensively about her work as a psycho-spiritual artist and music as a healing modality.  You can read more about her on the UR2 website>> The video above includes several UR2 Global Artists-in-Residence such as, Roxi Victorian, Missy Crutchfield and Kristin Hoffmann. Dr. K explains, "These women are simply 'examples' of beacons of light, and do not usurp the light from others . . .  we hope this video empowers women to know that UR2 (you are too!) beacons of light, and that the world is waiting to see you shine." Lyrics & melody by Dr. K's Music Therapy.  Music arranged and produced by Premik Russell Tubbs. Laura Seftel: Healing from Pregnancy Loss Through Art At least one in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage (half a million women in the U.S. every year), and yet aftercare is rarely available for those who have experienced pregnancy loss. For almost two decades, art therapist Laura Seftel has been exploring ways to use the arts to address infertility, miscarriage and other pregnancy-related losses. In her book, Grief Unseen: Healing Pregnancy Loss Through the Arts (London, 2006), Seftel shares her own experiences of miscarriage and recovery, and describes the use of art and ritual as a response to loss in traditional and modern cultures. She presents a variety of artists who have explored pregnancy loss in their work, including Frida Kahlo, Judy Chicago, and Tori Amos.The book includes step-by-step exercises in guided imagery, poetry, visual art, journaling, and creating rituals to help people with no prior art experience. Seftel also maintains a Facebook page called The Secret Club Project  where she posts artworks that deal with pregnancy loss and related issues.  Recent Posts on the WomenArts Blog  WomenArts is doing a series of paid guest posts and spotlight articles on women arts leaders. Here are the past five posts:  The Women of Appalachia Project Challenges Stereotypes Through Art Waking the Feminists: The Gender Parity Revolution in Irish Theatre Lori Greene's Mosaics: Public Art That Empowers Communities Women Speculative Fiction Writers Form Broad Universe Happy Support Women Artists Now Day 2017! If you would like to write an article for us, please check out our Blog Submission Guidelines>>  Looking for Theatre or Film Opportunities or Grants?  Free Monthly #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps Newsletters Can Help! Women in the Arts and Media Coalition in collaboration with WomenArts is publishing free newsletters for theatre and film/video artists listing submission opportunities, grants, auditions, residencies and more. You can follow #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps on Twitter or see the latest issues by visiting the Coalition's website. To submit listings for the #StageOpps or #ScreenOpps newsletters, please write to: stageopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org or screenopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org.

Waking The Feminists Creates a Gender Parity Revolution in Irish Theatres

Waking the Feminists Creates a Gender Parity Revolution in Irish Theatres 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. Also, the Gate Theatre named its first female artistic director, Selina Cartmell.  How It Started The national theatre of Ireland, the Abbey Theatre, which receives half of the country's public funding for theatre arts, announced its new season in October, 2015. They called it Waking The Nation to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Uprising which established Ireland as an independent country from England. Nine of the ten playwrights were male and seven of the ten directors were also male. Furious responses by designer/arts manager Lian Bell, writer Belinda McKeon, and playwright/literary manager Gavin Kostick launched a conversation on Twitter. As Lian Bell explained, "The Irish professional theatre community relies heavily on public subsidy to operate. Private philanthropy and foundations don't feature to any great degree in the funding structure here. The Abbey explicitly states in its mission statement that it exists to reflect Irish society and to put the artist at the centre of the work.  For it then to so blatantly disregard women artists was for us a clear misuse of public money."  Two weeks after the Abbey's season announcement, playwrights, directors, producers, artistic directors, stage managers, designers, actors and audience members met at the Abbey to discuss the systemic gender issues throughout the Irish theatrical industry. It turned out to be the official launch of #WakingTheFeminists. Read more about the success of #WakingtheFeminists on the WomenArts Blog>> Rebecca Roudman's "Don't Call Me Honey" * SWAN Day Song Contest - Honorable Mention * We loved Rebecca Roudman's down and dirty cello playing on this song, and her lyrics seem especially appropriate for women struggling for gender parity: "Don't call me honey Don't call me baby Don't talk call me sweetie I ain't your lady . . . I've got something to offer You wouldn't expect It's the 21st century And I'll take your respect." Rebecca Roudman is equally at home as a classical cello player and on the cutting edge of pop music. She is a member of both the Oakland Symphony and the Santa Rosa Symphony, and she has toured with orchestras to Brazil and throughout Europe. She also performs extensively with diverse contemporary musicians including Amp Live of the hip-hop duo Zion I and alternative hip hop stars Deltron 3030, and with her own unique blues and bluegrass band, Dirty Cello. Led by Roudman, the Dirty Cello band has become a Bay Area favorite with over 100 shows a year and tours to China, Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK and Hawaii. In the video above, Dirty Cello performs Roudman's Don't Call Me Honey - Rebecca Roudman, cello & vocal; Jason Eckl, guitar; Anthony Petrocchi, drums; Paul Smith-Stewart, bass. Filmed by David Wong. Recorded at Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley, CA.  Follow Dirty Cello on Facebook>>  Recent Posts on the WomenArts Blog  WomenArts is doing a weekly series of paid guest posts and spotlight articles on women arts leaders. Here are the past five posts:  Lori Greene's Mosaics: Public Art That Empowers Communities Women Speculative Fiction Writers Form Broad Universe Happy Support Women Artists Now Day 2017! DC SWAN Day Celebrates 10 Years with Music, Theatre, Poetry & Exhibit Lydiah Dola Wins First Prize in the SWAN Day Song Contest If you would like to write an article for us, please check out our Blog Submission Guidelines>>  Looking for Theatre or Film Opportunities or Grants?  Free Monthly #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps Newsletters Can Help! Women in the Arts and Media Coalition in collaboration with WomenArts is publishing free newsletters for theatre and film/video artists listing submission opportunities, grants, auditions, residencies and more. You can follow #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps on Twitter or see the latest issues by visiting the Coalition's website. To submit listings for the #StageOpps or #ScreenOpps newsletters, please write to: stageopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org or screenopps@womenartsmediacoalition.org.

Women of Color Day - March 1

    

Greetings Women in the Arts and Media:

We think you will be interested that 2017 is the 30th year since the founding of March 1st as Women of Color Day, the only day in the year when women of color are specifically honored.  The day was established by the National Institute for Women of Color (NIWC) on whose board I served for 11 years. During those years, at the suggestion of Pat Williams, faculty of Ohio State University, in addition to holding national women of color conferences in Washington, DC, Reno (NV), and Harrisburg (PA), we began the commemoration of March 1st, as Women of Color Day. 

Unfortunately, NIWC became inactive in the 1980's. At that point, rather than let the effort die, I established the International Association for Women of Color Day, to keep this movement alive, honoring outstanding women of color with a special award only for them, but also adding the Aurora Award to honor those women, men, organizations and businesses of any ethnic group that supports women of color and/or also supports justice and equality. IAWOCD has promoted Women of Color Day across the nation and internationally. To date, it has been commemorated in 25 states and  5 other countries. A Women of Color Day ceremony has been developed as have logo products to support this work. Additional support has come from advertisers in the souvenir program booklets of the annual events collaborated by our office/headquarters in Sacramento, CA. I have personally underwritten any shortfall through the last 17 years. 

In 2016, I wrote The Constructive Extermination of Women of Color: Consequences of Perpetual Socio-Economic Marginalization to document and publicize the horrific circumstances facing the overwhelming majority of grassroots/working class women of color. The book was based on my unpublished dissertation, Racism and Sexism in Higher Education: The Autoethnography of an Activist and 18 "Women of Color" columns written between 2008-2011 in the online publication, blackcommentator.com. Printed by Sacramento Library's I Street Press, copies of the book are available in the Queens Library and Langston Hughes collections in Queens, NY, as well as in the general collections of Sacramento and Yolo County collections in California.

Additional information is available online at https://womenworldculture.com/women/8-women/5-international-association-for-women-of-color-day and http:www.womenofcolorday.com. Purchases of greeting cards, books, logo products and CDs as well as speakers are available at these sites.   A review of the book, "The Constructive Extermination of Women of Color: Consequences . .  ." and discussion of the work on behalf of women of color, other oppressed populations and an array of civil/human rights work are addressed in the review, "Writing Against Wrongs," in the Sacramento News and Review." 

https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/writing-against-wrongs/content?oid=16397822

FYI, Kwanzaa is 50, Earth Day is 46. There were many years before each of these days achieved their current recognition. Considering the impact that racism plus sexism, which is only experienced by women of color, has had for centuries and throughout the history of the U.S. We are proud that Women of Color Day is entering its 30th year. To commemorate this important occasion, the official Women of Color Day greeting card series has been developed. A flyer about these cards with a brief overview of Women of Color Day is attached along with other examples of commemorations outside of Sacramento.

If possible, it would be appreciated if you could make those attending aware of Women of Color Day and encourage their support of it. Women of Color Day is an opportunity to expand recognition of outstanding women of color and other outstanding women, men, organizations and businesses, especially at local levels where the need for such attention is the greatest and yet the least often extended to the masses of great people among our midsts. The importance of bringing attention to those we honor,whose work and arts we make known and the education that takes place on a widening scale was made very clear in the elections that have taken place in the past several decades. Despite considerable efforts on behalf of women of color and specifically the issue of racism plus sexism, the mere mention of these words was refused by the Republican Party, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton Campaign, Bernie Sanders Campaign, Jill Sanders Campaign, and Green Party. In the face of the fact that women of color vote at the highest rates of all groups, this across the board rejection cannot be ignored. There are many great efforts underway which we support. Our part of this effort is to bring about wide recognition of the education, skills, talents, creativity, experience, insights, community service, grassroots/working class efforts and achievements to facilitate the inclusion of those working for justice and equality for all. Too many great people are unknown, including to each other. Too many grassroots/working class people give all of their resources for these just causes, only to be excluded, demeaned, kept from earning a decent living despite high qualifications as cronies, friends and family of those who refuse to recognise us or include us are hired or appointed, sometimes because they look like us, although in fact they are representing themselves and not the masses of us.

We all need each other working in coalition if we are to truly succeed and become free in our lifetimes. 

Sincerely,

Suzanne Brooks

CEO, International Association for Women of Color Day and WomenWorldCulture

http://www.womenofcolorday.com    https://womenworldculture.com

Owner/Sole Proprietor/Social Entrepreneur, Creative Concepts Systems

https://www.bbb.org/sacramento/business-reviews/business-consultants/creative-concepts-systems-in-sacramento-ca-33002674/

Singer/Songwriter/Bandleader, The Jazz Generation band

https://www.reverbnation.com/suzannebrooksthejazzgeneration  #1 locally and regionally jazz band

http://www.prweb.com/releases/womenworldculture/womenofcolorday/prweb11727562.htm  Women of Color Day Press Release 20114: honorees included Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile and Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay

http://sacramentopress.com/2009/12/25/the-mother-of-sacramento/   (Mother Ruby lived to 114)