Not My Sister

Celebrating SWAN Day for the fifth year, DC SWAN Day, organized by The Georgetown Theatre Company, will expand its multi-disciplinary festival of women in the arts outside of Georgetown, with events at The National Museum of Women in the Arts downtown, as well as events in Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle.

The DC festival kicks off this Saturday, March 24, 2012, with an afternoon gathering of women visual and performing artists near Dupont Circle, at which the SWAN Day artists will meet the public and discuss their work.

The official opening reception will take place the following Friday evening, March 30, at Baked and Wired, with a performance by the emerging indie rock band Not My Sister, whose music has been described as “the Shangri-Las meet Indie Pop.” The band, which is comprised of a family of South Asian women, is currently recording their first EP.

The main DC SWAN Day festival will be held on Saturday afternoon, March 31, with a whole host of events happening simultaneously. Audiences are faced with the difficult task of choosing between a staged reading marathon at the National Museum of Women in the Arts that will last all afternoon (the event is free with admission to the museum), poetry readings at Grace Church accompanied by a performance by Nancy Havlik Dance Performance Group (a company that “explores the human condition in all its messiness and poignancy” through an improvisational collaboration between dancers and live musicians) on the Church grounds, screenings of women-made films from across the globe at Stone Soup Films (from the WIFTI (Women in Film and Television International) Shorts Showcase), a storytelling event at Mellow Mushroom pizzeria, and performance art at District of Columbia Arts Center.

Georgetown Theatre has made keeping track of all these events simple with a map showing all the SWAN Day venues, as well as a comprehensive listing of each event (including addresses) on our SWAN Day Calendar.

DC SWAN Day has consistently delivered fascinating, innovative events featuring a diverse group of women artists working in different disciplines (to get an idea of last year’s festival offerings, check out this video). This year, the festival continues to expand its range and reach by holding events in different parts of town, some in unlikely venues (we have to smile at the thought of unsuspecting pizza-eaters being surprised – and hopefully delighted – by an influx of women storytellers, as well as the image of a site-specific dance piece happening on the grounds of a church). This year’s SWAN Day DC promises not only interesting fare for those familiar with the festival, but also the opportunity to expose the women artists it showcases to a broader audience.

Best of luck to the performers and organizers of DC SWAN Day from all of us here at WomenArts, and from women artists all around the world!