The Female Artist Collective of Greensboro North Carolina has really captured the Support Women Artists Now/SWAN spirit by declaring today as the first annual Female Artist Takeover Day in their town.  Brava!!

Musician/actress Stephanie Lindley started the Female Artist Collective of Greensboro as a Facebook group in 2010.  Her goal was to encourage and support local female artists, and the group has grown to 160 members.

As their way of celebrating International Women’s Day and SWAN Month, they have organized the first annual Female Artist Takeover Day.  They have persuaded venues all over Greensboro and Jamestown to present women artists, and tonight there will be events featuring musicians, singers, spoken-word artists, dancers, theatrical performers and visual artists.  Artists and audience members will be wearing magenta to show their support for women artists. There is an article in Go Triad with more information.

Through their Facebook page, they are also encouraging every women artist in Greensboro to make herself visible today whether or not she is part of one of the main events.  As they say, “Five Minutes. 30 Minutes. An hour. In your favorite shopping place. Show your art. Sing a song. Recite Shakespeare! Get permission and let it fly!”

This is a great idea. So many women artists feel isolated and invisible, and we need to do much more to help each other and let our communities know we exist.

At WomenArts we hear from women artists all over the world who have discovered the power of forming support groups with other women artists. Whether you get together to do a SWAN event or for some other purpose, we encourage you to find and build support networks for yourself.

Many of the most successful SWAN organizers started with a small group of friends, a simple flyer, or an online announcement.  Now they are organizing large annual SWAN events. You can do it too!  Finding supportive colleagues is the key to discovering your power to create, connect, and change the world.