Thanks so much to all of you who are participating in the Eighth International SWAN Day. Whether you are organizing an event, attending an event, spreading the word, or giving a gift to your favorite woman artist, you are part of a growing world-wide movement. There are SWAN 2015 events all over the U.S. and in places as far flung as Burundi, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey, and New Zealand. (See the list below.)
In all of these communities women are gathering to bring harmony to the world through music, to build movements that inspire us to dance, to share pictures that open our eyes, and to tell stories that heal our hearts.
As women and as artists, we take this troubled world in our hands and work to make it better. When we celebrate SWAN Day, we can feel the power of our joy, our commitment, and our immense collective creativity.
Thanks to all of you for your perseverance in these challenging times. Whether your celebration is large or small today, I hope that on SWAN Day you will feel the energy of women artists and allies all over the world who are cheering for you to reach your full potential.
Sending Lots of SWAN Love to All of You,
Martha Richards, Executive Director, WomenArts
List of SWAN Day 2015 Events
For more detailed information about these events, you can search for them on the SWAN Calendar or check the WomenArts Blog to see if we did an article about them. Some of these events took place earlier in the month and some will happen in the next few weeks.
UNITED STATES EVENTS (Scroll to bottom or click here for International Events)
Name | City | State | Organizer |
Perspective: The Women in Filmmaking | Phoenix | AZ | Phoenix Film Festival, seminar hosted and moderated by Jill D’Agnenica (director, Life Inside Out) |
Tea for Three: Lady Bird, Pat & Betty | Auburn | CA | Elaine Bromka |
Antigonick by Anne Carson | Berkeley | CA | The Shotgun Players |
What Do the Women Say? | Berkeley | CA | Golden Thread Productions |
An Evening with Holly Near | Berkeley | CA | Holly Near |
Umbrella Dance for Dance Anywhere Day | Berkeley | CA | Impromptu No Tutu Elder Movement Ensemble; Greacian Goeke, Artistic Director |
WomenArts Night At PlayGround | Berkeley | CA | WomenArts & PlayGround |
Hills to Hollers | Berkeley | CA | Barbara Higbie, Linda Tillery & Laurie Lewis |
SWAN Day Bay Area | Berkeley | CA | WomenArts, Counting Actors, PlayGround, Symmetry Theatre |
8th Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival | Hollywood | CA | Towne Street Theatre |
SWAN Day Art Exhibition | Livermore | CA | Silicon Valley Womens Caucus for Art |
Water-Line: Inspiration for Change Women’s Group Exhibit | Los Angeles | CA | Studio C Gallery |
Screening India Song by Marguerite Duras | Los Angeles | CA | Seeking Our Story |
SWAN Day Action Fest | Los Angeles | CA | LA Female Playwrights Initiative & Free Association Theatre, hosted by City Garage Theatre |
One Axe Spring Industry Showcase | Los Angeles | CA | One Axe Festival, The Womens Center for Creative Work |
Megami Power Weekend | Los Angeles | CA | Yaphattainment International |
Namaste, Bitches Online Fundraising Campaign | Los Angeles | CA | Mary Gillen |
Marimachas | Los Angeles | CA | Teatro Luna |
Solo Theatre Festival | Los Angeles | CA | Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival |
Swan Day Martinez | Martinez | CA | Martinez Arts Association |
Out of Control – A Staged Reading | Oakland | CA | The Lower Bottom Playaz |
SWAN Day Art Exhibition | Oakland | CA | Firehouse Art Co. Lottie Rose |
Free to Move: Creative Movement and Rhythm for Brain Health and Community | Oakland | CA | Impromptu No Tutu Elder Movement Ensemble; Greacian Goeke, Artistic Director |
Feminist Tour of the Norton Simon Museum | Pasadena | CA | DanielakArt – A Gallery without Walls |
A Place of Her Own – Exhibit & Talk | San Francisco | CA | Asian American Women Artists Association, AAWAA, Cynthia Tom |
11th annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival | San Francisco | CA | Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project |
On the Spot | San Francisco | CA | San Francisco Theatre Pub |
The Life and Art of Isadora Duncan | San Leandro | CA | Diablo Dance Theater/Lois Flood |
Shorties | Santa Monica | CA | Green Light Productions |
An Evening with Holly Near | Santa Rosa | CA | Holly Near |
The 5th Annual Women+Film Festival | VOICES | Denver | CO | The Denver Film Society |
2015 Athena Project Arts Festival | Denver | CO | Athena Project |
SWAN Day Connecticut | Wolcott | CT | SWAN Day CT/Jennifer Hill |
Animation Unplugged Workshop | Washington | DC | Slingshot Video/Thurgood Marshall Center Trust |
DC SWAN Day Staged Reading Marathon | Washington | DC | Guillotine Theatre |
Through Her Eyes: Women Gallerists Panel | Washington | DC | All We Art Gallery & Artinista Art Advisory |
Women in the Arts 2015 | Doral | FL | Museum of the Americas |
SWAN Day Miami -Spoken Soul Showcase 8 | Miami | FL | Spoken Soul Festival |
Free African Dance at Sanford Riverwalk | Sanford | FL | Guerrilla Dancer |
interseXion | Milledgeville | GA | Georgia College & State University |
Illinois Women Film/Video Presentation 2015 | Chicago | IL | Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery |
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry Film & Panel | Chicago | IL | Chicago Area Women’s History Council |
SWAN Day Chicago | Chicago | IL | Columbia College Chicago |
Gender, Community & Activism – Social Justice for Women | Chicago | IL | Beck Research Initiative at DePaul University |
SWAN Day Open Rehearsal | Chicago | IL | Moving Dock Theatre Company |
Indie Boots Theatre Festival | Chicago | IL | Mudgeonsoul Productions |
2015 Women’s Empowerment Conference | Springfield | IL | Tara Allbritton |
SWAN Day in Louisville | Louisville | KY | Women Work/Women’s Work |
Of Hollows and Highlands: Artwork by Women from the Mountains of Eastern KY | Whitesburg | KY | Organizing artists: Donna Williams and Lacy Hale Organization: Appalshop Gallery |
Schubert and Szymanowska Etudes in Their Time | Amherst | MA | Monica Jakuc Leverett, piano |
We Create! Celebrating Women in the Arts | Boston | MA | Marsha Parrilla/ Danza Orgánica |
Badass | Boston | MA | Sleeping Weazel |
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf | Northampton | MA | Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble |
Our Voices Collective SWAN DAY Evening of Monologues & Poems | Somerville | MA | Our Voices Collective, Kelly DuMar, Lida McGirr |
An Evening for International Women’s Day | Woods Hole | MA | Film and Law Productions |
SWAN DAY Tour & Lunch: Kara Walker’s “Emancipating the Past” | College Park | MD | Artinista Art Advisory |
God Don’ Like Ugly | Laurel | MD | Venus Theatre |
The Girl Child Project | Silver Spring | MD | Light Switch Dance Theatre |
The Girl Child Project After Party | Silver Spring | MD | Light Switch Dance Theatre |
Girl Shorts 2015 | Minneapolis | MN | Theatre Unbound |
Someone Else’s Story | Minneapolis | MN | Burnet Art Gallery |
An Evening of Song with Randa McNamara | Chapel Hill | NC | RCWMS and Cassilhaus |
Women’s Voices: Readings by Local Writers | Chapel Hill | NC | RCWMS and Cassilhaus |
Artist Talk by Mary Jane Rivers | Chapel Hill | NC | RCWMS and Cassilhaus |
Music by Alison Weiner & Mary Capucilli | Chapel Hill | NC | RCWMS and Cassilhaus |
365 Women A Year Staged Reading | Charlotte | NC | Prizes of Accident Theatre Company |
Grand Opening of Suffrage Wagon Cafe | Santa Fe | NM | Suffrage Wagon News Channel |
Meet, Greet & Voice | Reno | NV | L. Martina Young/The Aesthetic Body |
SWAN Day Party 2015 | Belmont | NY | Belfast Organization For Artists & Sheila Lynn K Art Studio |
The Women Gather Project 2nd Annual Concert | Brooklyn | NY | Grace Drums |
Staged Reading of Françoise | Brooklyn | NY | Nora’s Playhouse |
Yente/Yenta: How a Name Became a Noun | Brooklyn | NY | Jan Lisa Huttner |
Red Noses | Long Island City | NY | Nicu’s Spoon theater Company |
New Works By Barbara Fracchia And Sheryl Ruth Kolitsopoulos | New York | NY | Pleiades Gallery |
“From Sacred Wrath” – A Play in Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide | New York | NY | Boundaryless Productions |
Buzz…Son of a Bee: a musical comedy about actors dreams | New York | NY | Vampingo Productions |
The Idea of Me | New York | NY | Cherry Lane Theatre |
Winter Wheat, The Betrayal of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her Woman\’s Bible | New York | NY | Laurie James |
Screenplay Reading of “Hick” – More than Eleanor’s Best Friend | New York | NY | Writer/Producer – MJ Moneymaker |
Changing Face of Harlem | New York | NY | Documentary Forum |
Career Panel Behind the Scenes: Women in Hip Hop | New York | NY | Apollo Theater Education Program |
Apollo Live Wire – Bold Soul Sisters: A Revolution of Sound & Style | New York | NY | Apollo Theater Education Program |
“Her Voice…Dance, Literature, Music” | New York | NY | Def Dance Jam Community |
Sexual Assault on Campuses: Issues and Prospects | New York | NY | JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE |
Soldier X by Rehana Lew Mirza | New York | NY | Ma-Yi Theater |
Names of the Dead Play Reading | New York | NY | Animus Theatre |
Women in Jazz Festival 2015 | New York | NY | International Women in Jazz |
Women in Theatre (radio broadcast) | New York | NY | Yvette Heyliger – Twinbiz |
What Would Jesus Do? (Play Reading) | New York | NY | National Action Network – Arts and Culture Committee |
SWAN Day Screening, Q&A, & Reception | New York | NY | Women in the Arts & Media Coalition, NYWIFT, SAG-AFTRA, SVA, and herFlix |
365 Women a Year – NYC Charter | New York | NY | 365 Women a Year |
Special Screening: It Happened Here | New York | NY | AAUW Empire State Virtual Branch |
Where Are the Great Women Artists in Chelsea Galleries? SWAN Day NYC Gallery Crawl | New York | NY | Hayv Kahraman, Alice Neel & Ann Agee |
Comida de Puta (F%&king Lousy Food) By Desi Moreno-Penson | New York | NY | MultiStages multicultural multidisciplinary theatre |
Women, Theatre, and the Holocaust | New York | NY | Cynthia L. Cooper |
Gutless & Grateful: A Musical Feast | New York City | NY | Amy Oestreicher) United Solo Festival 2014 |
Zuccotti Park | New York City | NY | Salgado Productions |
Duktar Screening | Queens | NY | Museum of the Moving Image |
Upclose: A Retrospective of Women Artists in Staten Island | STATEN ISLAND | NY | Elaine Mendez |
SWAN Day Staten Island 2015 | STATEN ISLAND | NY | Elaine Mendez Ent. |
True or False? No One Makes Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses | Valhalla | NY | Marcy B. Freedman |
SWAN DAY 2015 | Cincinnati | OH | Women’s Way of Ohio & Northern Kentucky and Women Writing for (a) Change |
CCAD Women’s Leadership Institute | Columbus | OH | Columbus College of Art & Design |
Grandma Gatewood: Ohio’s Legendary Hiker | Kent | OH | Kent Free Library |
Marine At the Bedside | Stillwater, Oklahoma | OK | Janis Contway and Debbie Sutton |
Oregon 365 Women SWAN DAY Concert Reading | Eugene | OR | Connie Bennett, Sandra de Helen, Merridawn Duckler, Claire Willett |
Oregon Swan Day Concert Reading | Eugene | OR | 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project |
Miller, Mitchell, Pisano and Riker Crossing the Delaware; NJ Women of the Book at Lafayette College | Easton | PA | Lafayette College |
What’s Her Story? | Erie | PA | The Council of Women’s Organizations |
Women Playing Hamlet- A comedy about a tragedy | Harrisburg | PA | Gamut Theatre Group |
Women Artists: Representation, Recognition and Promotion Panel Discussion | Philadelphia | PA | Women in Art Initiative UPenn |
Reclamations | Philadelphia | PA | Sarah R. Bloom & Rosalind Bloom |
2015 Senior Show: Emerging Artists & Designers | Philadelphia | PA | Moore College of Art & Design |
2015 Fellowship Exhibition/Student Show | Philadelphia | PA | Moore College of Art & Design |
Surprise of the Now Art Exhibit | Philadelphia | PA | Linda Dubin Garfield and smARTbusinessconsulting.org |
Poet-tree En Motion: Womyn’s Her-story in the Midst! | Philadelphia | PA | The Rotunda (Plum Dragoness) |
SWAN Day Pittsburgh 2015 | Pittsburgh | PA | No Name Players Theatre Co. |
Potluck and gathering of artists | pittsburgh | PA | Karen Larson’s House |
SWAN Day Artist Panel | Wakefield | RI | Hera Gallery |
My Cycle and the Denim Doves | Austin | TX | Salvage Vanguard Theater |
Spotlight on Playwright Series | Dallas | TX | The Black Academy of Arts and Letters |
Rocking It With Color | Galveston | TX | G. Lee Gallery |
Rover Dramawerks 365 Festival | Plano | TX | 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project |
365 Women A Year Festival | Plano | TX | Rover Dramawerks |
SWAN Day with Shelly Bell | Alexandria | VA | Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association |
365 Women a Year at Bennington College | Bennington | VT | 365 Women a Year:A Playwriting Project, NOplays |
NoPlays Staged Reading | North Bennington | VT | 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting Project |
KCPT Presents “Here, There & Everywhere” | Port Townsend | WA | Key City Public Theatre |
Name | City | Country | Organizer |
SWAN Festival Bulgaria 2015 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Art Nova Foundation |
1st Swan Day in Burundi | Bujumbura | Burundi | Swan Burundi |
She Speaks | Kitchener / Cambridge | Canada | Flush Ink Productions |
Coming into View: Equity in Theatre Atlantic Panel | Halifax | Canada | Equity in Theatre (Playwrights Guild of Canada and Partners) |
SWAN Day Prague | Prague | Czech Republic | LAVU and Raddox Studio |
Nietzsche Was A Man | Pori | Finland | Pori Art Museum. Finland |
Burrnesha | Vestone | Italy | Director Valbona Xibri |
Art Pleasures @SWAN 8 | Nairobi | Kenya | 5Cs Human Rights theatre Group |
Because of Beth | Pakuranga, Auckland | New Zealand | Writer Elana Gartner, Dir. Pam Browne at Little Howick Theatre |
Asa Igbeyawo Ni Ile Yoruba | Lagos | Nigeria | Atinuke Olabanji |
SWAN Day Tanzania | Dar Es Salaam | Tanzania | Chikondi Theatre Group |
Filmmor International Women’s Film Festival on Wheels | Istanbul | Turkey | Writer/Director Alexis Krasilovsky |