SWAN Day 2020 Re-Cap

This year marked the 13th Annual SWAN Day and boy was it a fabulous one! While many events faced cancellations due to COVID19, we were so inspired by the ways the arts community innovated to translate the vitality of in-person events to online, accessible spaces.

We seeing all of the new and existing content from incredible women and non-binary artists all over the globe being shared online as well. The many live events, digital portfolios, studio tours, shout outs, and comments circulating online spaces offered so much vital connection in a time of social distancing. Here’s a highlight reel of just some of the thrilling content that was shared!

Highlights from Virtual SWAN Day Spaces:

Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival: Best Feature Winner "SEEMA", Directed by Macherie EKWA. Check out the trailer for this powerful and devastating film here:

Read & Rant is a new online book club hosted by Athena Project Arts! Click the image below to learn how you can participate:

Spoken word poet Shruti Chauhan is a featured artist this year with the "She Growls UK Poetry Tour". Here is Shruti performing her poem entitled "Relations".

Jasmine Gardosi is also a featured artist for the 2020 "She Growls UK Poetry Tour". Here is Jasmine performing her poem 'She' live at Funkenteleky in Birmingham:

Artist, author, and vlogger Gwenn Seemel shared a video called "Art in the time of Mass Suffering".

Panya Banjoko, a third featured artist from the "She Growls UK Poetry Tour”, performs her poem “Otobong Nkanga, Taste of a Stone”.

Frida Kahlo's legacy has inspired decades of artists to be bold, follow their path, and break down boundaries. Watch as multimedia artist Alexa Meade transforms musician and singer/songwriter Ely Guerra into living, breathing artwork inspired by Frida Kahlo’s work, life and legacy.:

The Resistance Revival Chorus has been hosting live virtual concerts! Click the image below to watch a recording from their last concert!

Megan Hicks is a featured artist this year at the Women's Storytelling Festival Video Viewing Partay! Here she is at the West Chester Story Slam in 2015:

SWAN DAY CT Presented Jennifer Hill (AKA The Murderous Chanteuse) in a Live Stream Concert! Click the image below to watch a recording of this concert!

Stories are our medicine. Listen to Oanh Ngo Usadi's beautiful story via The Moth, featured as part of the Women’s Storytelling Festival. Her story, “Sandwiches & Neighbors”, is about when she and her family arrived in Texas from Vietnam with high hopes and an American Dream.

Femspectives is hosting a fabulous at-home virtual Feminist Film club every Thursday night! Join the party to watch and discuss with other filmmakers and film lovers!

Spoken Soul Festival had a truly incredible lineup of artists last year. Here is one of their featured artists, Reshma Anwar performing her original piece “Runaway”.

HowlRound Theatre Commons plus a group of artists, arts administrators, and others from around the US to discuss how COVID-19 is impacting freelance artists (those who identify as independent contractors) in this powerful panel. The conversation focuses on shared resources (legal, advocacy, how to take your work virtual, finding emergency funding, and financial best practices in crisis) and building and grounding the national community.

Rebecca Jay (Nelems) was the winner of the Women’s Freedom Song Contest with her original song "Stealing Me Back From You". Give it a listen!

Special thanks to: Jamie Bilgo Bruchman of SWAN Day MKE, Sophie Dowllar of SWAN Day Kenya, Jennifer Hill of SWAN Day CT, Deborah Magdalena of SWAN Day Miami, Charné & Rachel of SWAN Day Chicago, Christine Kellogg of SWAN Day Pensacola, Vanessa Gendron of SWAN Day Prague, Sheila Kalkbrenner of SWAN Days Allegany County, Karin Hendricks of SWAN Day Central Coast, Deborah Gaffney of SWAN Day Houston, Martha Richards of WomenArts, Michaela Goldhaber and Bay Area WTF, Brenda Foley of The Bridge Initiative, Kristen van Ginhoven of WAM Theatre, Jennie Webb of Los Angeles Women’s Female Playwright Initiative, Avis Boone of Women in the Arts & Media Coalition, the League of Professional Theatre Women, SAG-AFTRA, The Kilroys, and so many others. You inspire us everyday!

Additional SWAN Day 2020 Blog Posts:

WTF North Carolina: Theatre-making in Virtual Spaces

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Support Women Artists Now Day is this Saturday, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you online. Today we’re spotlighting Women’s Theatre Festival North Carolina, and their SWAN Day related events! WTF, now in its 5th year, is bringing their work into virtual spaces for all of us to enjoy from the comfort of our homes. Scroll to the bottom of this feature to catch details on their upcoming events (the first of which is happening tonight!).

Photo via Proctor Photographics, WTFNC 2018

As theaters sent emails en masse to inform audiences of their plans to postpone planned productions or close runs early, WTF, fortunate to be far from the next scheduled production, believed the best way to serve the community in this moment was to provide an outlet to engage in discussions around great plays. The WTF community helped Executive Artistic Director Johannah Maynard Edwards choose Dance Nation by Clare Barron to read and discuss, and before they knew it, nationally acclaimed artists quickly joined WTF’s panel, live-streamed on Twitch. 

Thus began WTF’s Virtual Plays Club, filling the great need theater artists have to experiment and, more importantly, keep making and sharing art:  “The community grew fast and playwrights were eager to not only participate but to really get inventive with us in exploring what might be possible,” Johannah recalls. “In some ways, our theatre community was just made really small by forcing us all into our homes, but in other ways, it has expanded exponentially in that, suddenly, geographic proximity is no longer a barrier.”

Now WTF has committed to weekly panel discussions each Monday night, and live play readings each Thursday night to keep their community of artists thriving! Last week was Albemarle by Caridad Svich. “I have been experimenting with virtual and digital performance for some years,” Caridad shared, “often through grass-roots schemes such as this one. I am interested in how we can re-think [the] theatre's liveness in virtual realms, especially as a medium that can be accessible (in all ways) and reach more people, even through humble means.”

“Even beyond this pandemic, there are tons of reasons why people cannot always attend live events,” Mikki Stith, Marketing and Communications for Theatre Raleigh and WTF’s Twitch Consultant explains. “Right now, organizers are learning that we shouldn't penalize people for not attending our in-person events; We should accommodate them. Nothing is ever as good as being in ‘the room where it happens,’ so streaming your event does not cheapen the in-person experience. It is a chance to welcome people who otherwise couldn't participate, and I hope that everyone sees the incredible opportunity that streaming has to offer artists."

Upcoming Virtual Events:

WTF's Virtual Playreading Book Club Presents Natural Shocks by Lauren Gunderson

A live-stream virtual "staged" reading of the play, followed by a group discussion.

Date: Thursday, March 26, 7:30 p.m. EST

Virtual location: Watch it here: https://www.twitch.tv/wtheatrefestivalnc (no Twitch account needed)

SWAN Day Panel & Community Discussion: Taking the Patriarchy Out of Directing

The focus of this event is to unpack “traditional” directing practice in order to see what else is possible. Directing is often a solo endeavor grounded in a hierarchical/patriarchal/top-down structure. The director is frequently cast in the role of sole decision-maker and even sole knowledge-holder. In the face of this model, WTF has come to ask, “Are there other ways?” Locating the conversation within the lens of intersectional feminism, how can we change the established directing model to improve opportunity, representation, and career health/longevity for women+ directors? And, how does a change in directing methodology impact other elements of the creation and presentation of theatre? Special thanks to Rachel Blackburn and Molly Claassen of Columbus State University (GA) for initiating this formal discussion at the 2019 and 2020 Southeastern Theatre Conference annual convention.

Date: March 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Virtual location: Please join from your computer, tablet or smartphone here:

https://uky.zoom.us/j/254585245

You can also dial in using your phone:
United States: +1 (224) 501-3412
Access Code: 243-013-677

Other Upcoming Events:

Freakshow  By Carson Kreitzer
Co-Directed by Rachel Pottern Nunn and Rowen Haigh
Dates: May 29 - June 7 2020
Pure Life Theatre
3801 Hillsborough Street Suite 113
Raleigh, NC

The 5th Annual Women’s Theatre Festival
Dates: July 9-12 2020
Locations throughout the Royal Bakery Building (including Pure Life Theatre)
3801 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC

The World Premiere of XIX by Jacqueline E. Lawton
Dates: October 2- 11 2020
Pure Life Theatre
3801 Hillsborough Street Suite 113
Raleigh, NC

Interested in adding your women-led art event to the 2020 SWAN Day Calendar? Please submit your information HERE.

SWAN Day Milwaukee: Making Room for Motherhood

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All photos courtesy of Jake Hill.

As part of our ongoing efforts to increase the visibility of women artists, StateraArts puts the spotlight on them every March and April through Support Women Artists Now Day. Today we’re spotlighting SWAN Day Milwaukee, which is now in its 5th year of celebration. We had an opportunity to chat with Jamie Bilgo Bruchman, SWAN Day Milwaukee organizer, to talk about her experience stepping back and asking for help when she became pregnant last year.

“Planning an exhibit like this is basically a full-time job”, she shared with us. “I knew that I couldn’t put that on myself right as I was having my first baby. But it was a huge task, and I didn’t want to ask it of someone else, either.” Check out the video below to hear Jamie share how her volunteer team stepped up to the plate, and all the ways in which the community she created is now the one to catch her in her first few months as a mother.

SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day MKE - An annual exhibition advocating for gender parity in the arts and celebration of Milwaukee women's creativity! Over the past five years, hundreds of women-identified artists of all ages, disciplines, and levels of artistic experience residing in Milwaukee and surrounding areas have participated in an informal, non-juried celebration and exhibition. SWAN Day MKE partners each year with a local non-profit or cause to support women’s equality in all parts of life. SWAN Day MKE exhibitions explore broader themes of women’s artistic and spiritual connections to the environment, society, and each other, and how these roots nourish one’s work, activism, and daily living.

SWAN DAY MKE 2020 EVENTS

SWAN Day MKE 2020 Theme - "TRANSFORMATIVE POWER"

ARTISTS' RECEPTION at the Collective
9224 W. Burleigh Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222
Saturday, March 28th, 2pm-5pm 
FREE and open to the public.
See the Facebook event page here.

COMMUNITY ART STUDIO at Bloom
2230 S. Kinnickinnic Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207
Saturday, March 28th, 5:30 - 7:30pm
Pay what you are able / Suggested donation of $10
See the Facebook event page here.

EXHIBITION: March 6th - April 3rd
The exhibit at both locations is FREE to view.

SWAN INSPIRED COMMUNITY COLORING PARTY at Art*Bar
722 E Burleigh St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212
Saturday, April 4th, 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM
See the Facebook event page here.

Donate to the SWAN Day MKE 2020 GoFundMe fundraiser here. Or donate via Fractured Atlas here.

Interested in adding your women-led art event to the 2020 SWAN Day Calendar? Please submit your information HERE.

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SWAN Day Chicago: A Celebration of Black Hair

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Today we’re spotlighting SWAN Day Chicago now in its 7th year of celebration. We caught up with Rachel Gadson, SWAN Day Chicago co-coordinator, to talk about what’s in store for this year’s celebration.

StateraArts: Tell us a little bit about what's on the docket for SWAN Day Chicago.
Rachel Gadson: Sure! This year we'll be featuring Black women hairstylists. Showcasing our hair as art is such an empowering and affirming tool that we are so excited to explore. We wanted to explore the creativity within the Black woman’s hair experience and how so much of it is representative of how we uniquely express ourselves. We’ve specifically hand-picked women in 5 different hairstyling categories: Natural Hair, Weaves, Colorist, Braider, Short Hair Stylist/Barber. We want this to not only be an exhibition of the expressions of Black women’s multifaceted hair care but a celebration of the innovative and talented women behind them. We hope the attendees of this year's SWAN Day Chicago leave with an enlightening experience.  

SA: What makes you most excited about SWAN Day Chicago this year?
RG: I think what's most exciting is being able to highlight and showcase such an expressive and unique art form that isn't celebrated as much as it could/should be. Black women have used hair in many ways to express style, creativity and influence culture. We are honored to accentuate the diversity of this immersive industry.

SA: Can you tell us a bit about why you feel called to lead SWAN Day in this capacity?
RG: Creating space to empower our peers has always been the fuel to lead SWAN Day events. Charne Graham and I started the celebrations here in Chicago in 2014 under the guise of wanting to create opportunities for women to support other women. It is also vital that we make the artists feel appreciated for the amazing commitment they display to their craft. It's not often that women are credited and honored in the world of creative arts, especially black women. We found that if we continue cultivating these spaces to lift up our peers, then we have done our part in effecting a change to that narrative. Fostering a strong sense of community of extremely talented women from Chicago is the root of why we take on the mission each year. 

MEET THE ARTISTS

Courtney "Conay" Elzy is a licensed cosmetologist located in Chicago, Illinois, specializing in braids & protective styling. She aims to provide top of the line service to each and every client.
www.conay.as.me
IG: @conay_control

Latoya Johnson owns Laced Layers Beauty and specializes in natural hair care & protective styles.(Image is of LaToya’s work, on model @themonalena)
www.lacedlayers.com
IG: @lacedlayers_beauty

Sheena Renee is a well known hair expert and master stylist in the industry today. Known for her ability to create sleek, shiny curls and beautiful soft waves, her wide range of abilities have made her a sought after stylist in Atlanta for years. Sheena also specializes in remarkable sew-in extensions and wig installs.
www.sheenarenee.com
IG:@iamsheenarenee

For over 20 years, Chicagoland premier celebrity stylist Kesha Levy, continues to lead the beauty industry in expert salon services. As a visionary and trendsetter, her highly trained Chicagoland team provides a number of services; natural hair haircare, cutting edge hair styling, flawless extensions, the “Perfect ponytail” for any occasion, advanced cutting and protective styling. https://www.keystylist.com/.
IG:@keystylist

SWAN Day Chicago will take place on April 4th, 6-10pm at Pear Nova Studio (2150 S Canalport, Chicago). To stay in the loop about SWAN Day Chicago, check out and follow their FaceBook page here, or visit their website at http://www.swandaychicago.com/. We love SWAN Day!!

Interested in adding your women-led art event to the Statera Calendar? Please submit your information HERE.

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