What it took to put on OBR - YOU!

One Billion Rising RVA has come - and gone - like a tornado rushing through my life.  For five weeks, from Jan 7 until Feb 14, my brain was in its highest gear, working to create a powerful, life-changing event for Richmonders, one that would put an end to violence against women, once and for all.

That may have been a too-lofty goal, but it didn't keep me from envisioning it and working towards it.

Kelsey Bedolli, Janett Forte, Julie Willard, Susan Singer

Five of us women: Janett Forte, Kelsey Bedolli, Julie Willard, Alba Jaramillo, and I, worked countless hours each day to pull together a huge event in a very short span of time.  It was exhilarating, fascinating, frustrating, dramatic, satisfying, maddening, and ultimately one of the biggest highs of my life.  It was amazing to see how the five of us worked together.  Without even talking about what needed to be done, each of us would work on parts of the project that needed to be with hardly any overlap ever.  It was almost magical!

Here's a very brief overview of what had to be done in five weeks:

•  Find a location for the rally - the Richmond Coliseum was truly perfect, and the people we worked with there could not have been more helpful.  A completely positive experience.

• Find a fiscal sponsor so we could run donations through a non-profit, making the donations tax-deductible and therefore easier to ask folks for - the Action Alliance was a gracious sponsor, allowing us to also use their copier to run off 1000's of flyers to promote the event, and to use their offices to meet in
• set up a way to get donations - Indiegogo worked beautifully, and we raised $3315 in little over a month through the generosity of friends and co-workers and family members and strangers.  It was thrilling each day to check in and see what had happened since the last time I'd looked.  Thank you!
• Find speakers - we were exceedingly blessed to find many good speakers to share their stories with the attendees.

Claire Sheppard and Kristi VanAudenhove

1. Mayor Dwight Jones inspired us to contact our legislators to let them know we insist that VAWA be passed.  Thanks, Mayor Jones, for joining us!
2. Claire Hylton Sheppard shared the painful story of her daughter's murder and inspired us with her courage and determination to make sure it doesn't happen to others.
3. Carol Adams of the Richmond Police Department told us about her mother's murder at the hands of her father and how it affected her as a child.  She has gone on to be a powerful advocate for children ever since.  It's great seeing pain turned into activism.
4. Rebiya Kadeer, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, shared with us the predicament the Uyghurs, a minority ethnic group in East Turkestan in China, are in.  Her life story is powerful and full of pain and suffering, but she is a powerful reminder of what just one person can do to bring attention to the plight of others through outspoken advocacy and efforts.



Rebiya Kadeer and her translator Omer Kadat



Carol Adams

5. Kristi VanAudenhove of the Action Alliance shared with the attendees what the Action Alliance does and gave people ways to get involved themselves so they can make a difference just like our speakers have done.  She also encouraged all of us to take the One Billion Rising pledge to do at least one thing this year to help end violence against women.  Here's the pledge:

I am one of the One Billion Rising and I PLEDGE that on 14 February 2013, I will make violence against women and girls the central issue of our time and help to end it in my family, school, job, community/city/state/country by doing the following. 

•  Find musicians - Gaye Adegbalola and the Wild Roots were the perfect accompaniment to the speakers.  Their music is powerful and evocative and empowering and gave us a chance to dance and feel the power in our bodies.
• Find an emcee who could keep things flowing.  Christina Feerick of WRIC TV8 was super!  She, like all of the speakers, donated her time to help the cause of ending violence against women.  She promoted the rally on the news, on FB, on Twitter.  She was terrific!
• Find Halal meals for Ms. Kadeer and her translator - first I had to learn what that was - thanks, Julie! - then I had to find someplace to get them for them.  This was not so easy, but we managed!



Khalima

• Find entertainers for the time slot from 11-12 and coordinate them all.

1. Khalima did her wonderful belly dancing
2. Sara Heifitz stepped in at the last minute to substitute for another actress who couldn't come and performed a couple of Vagina Monologues beautifully and powerfully.  There was another actress who did a monologue, but I don't know her name.  If you were she, please let me know!
3. Aja Hull and John Blake brought slam poetry to the OBR arena and added immense power to the happenings.
4. Glow spinners and hoopers took part to add to the multigenerational aspect.
5. Susan DePhillip came and sang and played her guitar and added much beauty to the day.
6. Denise Bennett told a funny and meaningful story in Spanish and English then sang a beautiful a capella song to entertain us all.



Aja Hull



Denise Bennett



Drummer in the hallway

7.  
8. Drummers came to drum at the end of the rally so we could all dance - Diana Harris brought 15 drums to the Coliseum so that that could happen.

• Create a way for participants to acknowledge their own experience.  Shirley Silberman learned how to do Papier and Cloth mache' in order to create the Dragon so people could Conquer their Dragons. So beautiful and creative!

Studio X

Dogtown Dance and Khalima

Planned Parenthood volunteer

 

• Organize a resource fair so folks could find help or volunteer opportunities if they felt so led - the YWCA, Action Alliance, Safe Harbor, First Things First, Planned Parenthood, Studio X, dogtown Dance, Beyond Barbie, Hollaback, Circle Safety & Health Consultants, and a bus from the Latin American Art Association were present to support and enrich our attendees' lives.  We even managed to find a T shirt vendor who traveled from Waynesboro to sell T shirts for the event.
• Spread the word about One Billion Rising RVA - we had a Facebook page, a Facebook event page, a website, a Twitter account, Instagram, Pinterest - you name it, if it was social media-related, I think we had it!  And we had volunteers who helped us fill each with interesting things for folks to read!  We also sent out 5 different press releases to the local media.  We had articles in several blogs - La Diff furniture store even wrote a piece about us!  We were on TV, on the radio, in the newspaper, in Style Weekly, etc.  I'll post all the links in another blog post.  Our Facebook reach maxxed out at 13,497, with 735 people "liking" us - so far.  
• Organize marches the day of the rally to let people in the area know it was happening.  Carly Evans, Alba Jaramillo, Lori Gardener, Diana Harris along with Kelly and Eugene from American Family Fitness Center held a rally at 8, and the YWCA held another at 10.  They certainly enlivened the city with their enthusiastic support of OBR!
• Print up countless flyers as well as programs for the events.  The Action Alliance provided us with access to their printers for the flyers and Conquest graphics generously donated the programs for the rally.



The YWCA supporters walk to the Coliseum from the Y



Bobby Lohr, T shirt vendor with customers

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• Create complementary events to support OBR and to spread the word and the energy even further.

Renee King and They Dance When They're Happy

1. Women Rise! a juried art show held at Crossroads Art Center.
2. Cranksrising - a bike race/scavenger hunt organized by Lorene Davidson and created to raise awareness and to provide supplies for the women at Safe Harbor shelter
3. Beyond Barbie: Four Fridays in February - a performance series produced by Dawn Flores consisting of four nights of entertainment around issues of importance to women.  Denise Bennett, Lisette Johnson, Kathleen MacDonald, Sylvia Clute, Peggy O'Neill, Jess Lucia, Jackie Jones, Jenny Warne, Paige Russell Rosemond Rosemond and Susan DePhilip, (and perhaps others I've regrettably not remembered to include) graced the stage and moved us with their candor and courage.
4. Hollaback had a benefit at Babes of Carytown on Valentine's Day which benefitted OBR.



Hollaback's Afton and Jenn

5. The Vagina Monologues, directed by Julie Willard, will take place at the Gottwald Theater, April 26-27 and will be the last of the series of complementary events for One Billion Rising!  Watch our FB page for info on how to get tickets.  It sold out last year - we're expecting the same this year.

• Find volunteers to help us create all these wonders and to help out the day of the event.  Our email list of volunteers ultimately had 60 people on it.  What a testament to each of you for your solidarity in ending violence against women.
• Make the event run smoothly Valentine's Day!  Julie Willard was the stage manager who kept things running.  Kelsey Bedolli helped the volunteers get where they needed to go so they could do what they needed to do.  Janett Forte picked up the slack wherever necessary.  I spoke from the podium before the other speakers to set the tone for the day.
• Get insurance in case someone got hurt.  That involved estimating how many people would attend and making sure we had enough insurance but not too much. Our insurance agent, Mike Cushnie, was kind and helpful beyond reasonable expectations.  When I told him we needed to insure for 10,000, he gracefully helped me lower my expectations so the insurance wouldn't cost us $750, but only $495.  He was a true gift and a kind man.
• Raise $7500 in 5 weeks!  We had a private individual who was willing to take the risk and put up the money for the Coliseum, agreeing to take the loss if necessary.  That made all of us feel determined to raise enough to keep her from losing money.  Thankfully many of you - 116 to be exact - answered our call for donations and helped us out.  That doesn't include the kind souls who donated cash at the event and can't be enumerated or thanked individually.  It does include AlterNatives and Extreme Pizza who held profit sharing events to help us out as well.  We were blessed by a generous community which is also committed to ending violence against women.  
• Organize a Flash Mob so we'd have a very cool dance to start and end the program.

That's probably a long enough list!  I know you get the idea!  And I'm certain I've left out people - I apologize for that!  Please let me know who I've left out and I'll happily include them - each of us Lead Organizers took on different parts of the rally, so I may not even know everything that got done!  Despite that, I am deeply grateful.

Thank you, each and every one of you who helped in any way to put One Billion Rising RVA together.  I wish I could give each of you my personal thanks for working so hard to make this event happen.  There was such an incredible outpouring of love and support and caring!  The energy the day of the event was palpable and powerful.  It makes me believe that violence against women truly can end if we all put our minds to it and say NO.

I can see it on the horizon.  Can you?

One Billion Rising Program

One Billion Rising Program

8:00 – Downtown Awareness March - Meet at Nina F Abady Festival Park- in front of the Richmond Coliseum - 6th St. Marketplace, Richmond, VA 23223

11:00 – doors to the Coliseum open

11:00 – 12:00  Arrival - explore the offerings on the floor and enjoy: Hoopers, Glow dancers, Resource tables, Sponsors’ booths, Slam poets, Mini-Vagina Monologues piece performances, music/bands/ Capoiera dancers, drumming, Slaying the Dragon interactive display

11:55 – Ssssshhh!  Big Surprise!  Bring your dancing shoes!

12:00 to 1:15 One Billion Rising Rally

Christina Feerick News Anchor, WRIC-TV8

Opening: Susan Singer

Speakers and Musicians

·         * Claire Hylton Sheppard tells her personal story about her daughter’s murder

·        *  Women's Multisports of Richmond's Crankrising  gives a donation to Safe Harbor Shelter

·         * Sergeant Carol Adams,Richmond Police Department, speaks of her personal experience and what she has done to turn tragedy into a passion for helping others

·         * Gaye Adegbalola and the Wild Roots perform three pieces during the rally

·        *    Mayor Dwight Jones speaks about what he’s seen in RVA, what the city is doing to end violence against women, and what he sees as the role of men in ending violence.

·         * Rebiya Kadeer – Nobel Peace Prize Nominee (2007) a prominent human rights activist from the Uyghur region of China speaks about violence against women around the world, including her own personal experiences

·         * Susan Singer reads Eve Ensler’s poem “Rising”

Drumming and Dancing Begin

2:00 pm – doors close

The One Billion Rising Pledge: One Billion Rising is the beginning of the new world ignited by a new energy. It is not the end of our struggle but the escalation of it. We are suggesting that everyone who rises make a pledge to do one thing in the next year to end violence against women. Spread the word all over Richmond, and have all of your friends make the pledge! We believe a billion people will rise. Imagine a billion activated pledges. Share your pledge online at The One Billion Rising Pledge >http://onebillionrising.org/page/s/one-billion-rising-pledge

Program for One Billion Rising Feb 14th at the Richmond Coliseum

Friends!  

It is high time for me to bring you up to date on One Billion Rising RVA!  We've all been so busy working on planning it, I haven't had time to write about it!  Before I tell you all about what's happening, we need volunteers!  If you want to sign up to volunteer, please click here to go to the Volunteer Sign up sheet on Google Docs.

Here's what's happening:

Thursday, February 14th, 11 AM - 2 PM, at the Richmond Coliseum
One Billion people around the globe will be rising to bring awareness to the violence being perpetrated against women around the world.  Here in Richmond ten thousand or more of us will gather to learn, to celebrate, to claim our power, to dance, to rise!  The events are as follows:

• 11 AM - 12 PM

1.  Resource Fair full of booths from organizations working to end violence against women.  This will give folks an opportunity to learn more, to get information for themselves or loved ones, or to volunteer to help out.
2. Hoopers, glow dancers, Capoiera dancers, slam poets, actresses performing bits of the Vagina Monologues, bands playing - some of these will be child friendly; some will be for more mature audiences.  (Children are welcome at all of them - we just want parents to be aware that some of the subject matter will be mature, and the monologues and slam poetry will contain four letter words.)
3. Slaying the Dragon - an opportunity for each of us to write our hopes and dreams for the future, or our stories of the past, or statements to honor those we love, or anything else we feel moved to write. They will be displayed on a beautifully-crafted papier-mache dragon symbolizing the New Year, slaying the dragon, using the dragon as a weapon to protect us, or whatever else works for you!

• 11:55  a terrific surprise you won't want to miss!
• 12 - 1:15  the main body of the formal program
• Speakers and performers include:

•  MC'ing the program for us will be two Richmond news anchors: Christina Feerick: Channel 8 & Diane Walker: Channel 12 &10

1. Claire Hylton Sheppard will address the impact violence has had on her personally.
2. Carol Adams, Richmond Police Department, will address local issues.  Carol has been a staunch advocate and phenomenal volunteer to help victims of violence locally.
3. The Nobel Peace Prize nominee Rebiya Kadeer a prominent human rights activist from the Uyghur region of China will speak to the global nature of violence against women. 
4. Yours truly will speak about the One Billion Rising movement worldwide and will recite a rousing poem by Eve Ensler, written specifically for One Billion Rising. 
5. Gaye Adegbalola an American blues singer and guitarist, teacher, lecturer, activist, and photographer, and her group The Wild Roots will play songs to entertain and inspire us.
6. There are a couple of other speakers who have been invited but who have not confirmed yet.  We hope to update and confirm the schedule by Jan 31. 
7. At the very end of the formal program portion, drumming will commence and continue powerfully as we all dance and express the pent up energy and outrage and hope that violence against women CAN and MUST END once and for all.  NOW!  If you have a drum and feel so led, we ask that you bring it with you to join in the drumming.  We would be delighted to have 10,000 drummers taking part!

• 1:15 - 2 The event will wind down as people talk to each other, share, meet, greet, and again visit the resource booths then gradually leave the Coliseum to go out into the world to do what they can to end violence against women. 
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• If you are interested in volunteering to help either before or during the event, we would welcome your help!  Here is information about our upcoming volunteer meetings:
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  Please Join Us - we have a planning/organizing meeting scheduled for tonight:
  
  
  Date: Monday, January 28, 2013 
  Time: 6:00 to 8:00 pm 
  Location: the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, 5008 Monument Ave. Suite A Richmond, VA 23230.  
  
  
  We will be finalizing the program for our Feb 14th event at the Richmond Coliseum, discussing event promotion, fundraising and sponsorship. We need your help and your good ideas. 
  
  
  We hope you can attend - Invite others interested in joining us and please reply and let us know if you can attend so we can make sure to have plenty of materials for all! Thank you!
  
  
  Please note: The next planning/organizing meetings are on Monday's Feb 4 – &  Feb 11  from 6 to 8 pm at the Action Alliance (address above)
  If you want to sign up to volunteer, please go to this google doc to sign up. 
  
  

The Best of Beyond Barbie

A couple of months ago a woman from Chesterfield County's Chesterfield Domestic and Sexual Violence Resource Center contacted me to ask if I would be interested in organizing a Best of Beyond Barbie show to be sponsored by her department and perhaps by the Women of Color Caucus of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, and Virginia State University as well.  

I am delighted to announce that we are making it happen!  Here's the information!

Saturday, April 14, from 7-9 PM, at Holiday Inn Koger Center South off of Midlothian Turnpike, near Johnston Willis Hospital.  Tickets $10, available at the door.

The following performers will grace the stage:

 

Gaye Adegbalola and The Wild Roots, Blues Singers

Megan Hicks, storyteller

Dawn Flores, artist, dancer, poet, activist

Denise Bennett, storyteller, musician

Valley Haggard, writer

Karen Morris, Eating Disorders Activist

Frances Wessells, 92-year-old dancer

Jennifer Jurlando, writer

Lisette Johnson, blogger and Domestic Abuse survivor

and yours truly, artist, writer, activist

Though we're calling it The Best of Beyond Barbie, I'm realizing that almost none of the acts will be exactly the same as at Beyond Barbie.  Almost every person is creating or presenting a new piece for this show so whether you were at our other performances or not, there will be much newness to experience!  The show will have some focus on Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse since that department is sponsoring it, but primarily it will focus on how glorious it is to be a woman, how empowering, how wonderful, how rich and fulfilling.

I will post more information as it becomes available.  I hope to see you there!

Pictures and Statistics from Beyond Barbie - a huge success!

Beyond Barbie: Piecing Together Today's Woman ended in early November with "Life in the First Person", a series of readings by seven different writers.  It, like all the other performances, was stellar.  I have been blown away by the deep sharing that took place during each evening.  The topics were completely varied: Birth, Body Modification, Dance, Spoken Word, Eating Disorders, the Blues, and Intimate Partner Abuse and each was fascinating, rich, fun, poignant, spirit-filled, empowering, interesting, etc., etc., etc.!

Khalima and Dawn Flores after Khalima's performance of Longing at Unity, one of the connections made through Beyond Barbie

Linda Goodman, Lisette Johnson, Megan Hicks, and Susan Singer at Through the Fire

I spent some time trying to figure out what they had in common - what I came up with was the authenticity of the performers.  They all presented their material from the heart, sharing what was true for them openly, without artifice, and the audience members held the space safely, recognizing the sacredness of that deep sharing.  We covered topics which weren't comfortable to be with like the death of a baby, being shot by ones husband, female circumcision, for example, yet we were able to be with the discomfort and feel compassion for the tellers because we could see their humanity.  No Hollywood manipulation was necessary.  No Jerry-Springer-like over-the-top histrionics.  The Truth was sufficient.  It was "Reality TV" at its best.  My heart was flooded with compassion and empathy with each story.

Yet the stories weren't all sad either.  One woman shared about being photographed by Playboy when she was a teen.  Another shared a beautiful birth story.  We watched dances that expressed great joy and spirituality, and we listened to Gaye Adegbalola sing the Blues full of empowerment and heartfelt goodness.  The range was extensive, just like in real life, condensed into seven evenings of community.
I gathered some numbers from the series which might be interesting to you:

302 - VERY approximate number of different people who attended one or more of the performances.
500 - approximate total number of attendees over the course of seven weeks
$4880 - amount of money brought in through sales of tickets for Beyond Barbie
$413 - amount donated to charity - Eating Disorder Coalition
27 - number of artists paid by BB for performing
100+/- - greatest # of people at one night - Life in the First Person
197 (and growing) - number of FB fans of BB
15 - # of people who've expressed an interest in keeping BB going
1000's - number of new connections and friends made through BB!
5 - the number of articles written about Not Barbie or Beyond Barbie (RVAMag, Richmond.com, Style Weekly, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Richmond Magazine

Sheila Gray, performer at Life in the First Person

“Beyond Barbie – Caught in a Fun House Mirror”, by Matt Wetsel, http://rvamag.com/articles/full/12902/beyond-barbie-caught-in-a-fun-house-mirror, Nov 2

“Exhibit Reveals More Than Just Skin”, by Alix Bryan, Richmond.com, http://www2.richmond.com/entertainment/2011/sep/21/exhibit-reveals-more-just-skin-ar-1324017/, Sept 21

“Naked Truth: Susan Singer’s ‘Not Barbie’ lets it all hang out at Crossroads Art Center”, Style Weekly, http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/naked-truth/Content?oid=1611275, Sept 13

“REAL WOMEN: Exhibit Focuses on Beauty and Body Image”, Richmond Times Dispatch, http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/flair/2011/sep/11/tdflair01-real-women-ar-1292440/, Sept 12

“Body Work”, Richmond Magazine, by Anne Dryfuss, http://www.richmondmagazine.com/?articleID=fbd27566dda996c75c42c531912d579c, Sept

Linda Goodman and Denise Bennett at Through the Fire

By all accounts, the shows were a fabulous success, and I'm deeply grateful to each and every person who participated either by performing or attending or buying ads for the program or providing us with space (thanks, Jenni Kirby and everybody else at Crossroads!) or by supporting those of us who did all those things.  I truly believe that this series helped shift the paradigm of how we see women.  We have come to recognize the strength in being real, honest, authentic and vulnerable.  Ironically, it is not a place of weakness - it is a place of strength and empowerment.

May we each go onward from this day forward to be our authentic selves, Beyond Barbie!

The Opening for Not Barbie was perfect!

It's been way too long since I last wrote a blog entry!  I've missed it, but I was so blasted busy putting on Not Barbie, I couldn't see beyond my eyeballs, much less think cogently enough to write a post!  But I'm back.  I hope.

The opening for Not Barbie: A Celebration of Real Women was perfect as far as I was concerned.  There were zillions of people there from so many different pockets of my life, and there were zillions of people there whom I didn't know yet.  I gave an Artist's Talk at 5:30 which was very well-attended.  I think there were about 200 people there for it.  I felt so honored.  I talked about why I do my art and about how we can begin to change the way we perceive and judge ourselves and others.  I'll talk more about it in a later post.

The evening began with that bang and continued fabulously right on til 9:00 when it finally ended.  Many people came and read all the stories by the models, honoring each and every one of them with their loving attention.  Women came up to me with tears in their eyes, sharing how much the art and the stories mean to them.  Men spoke to me about their own struggles with body image and assured me that it is NOT just a woman's issue.  I am wondering if perhaps I should begin drawing and painting men again to help with the inequity some men felt in my show.  Of course I don't mean to be exclusive.  Men are being portrayed with perfect bodies more and more these days.  It's daunting to try to live up to the perfection that feels demanded of us.  More about that in future posts as well...

In the meantime, I thought I would post some pictures from the exhibition in case you can't make it.  I'm thrilled with how well Crossroads works for such a show - it's a wonderful, huge space with a few smaller walls for intimate pieces as well as large stretches for bold statements.

A Celebration of Life on the entrance wall to the Gallery

Don't Mess with Me on the second entrance wall to the Gallery

Some of the largest pieces on the back wall as you enter, Scar Belly, Mother and Daughter Jocks Bound by Caution, and Joyful, Joyful.

Gaye Adegbalola and other pieces

A smaller corner of the gallery with the interactive exhibits and some of the more intimate pieces.

Wall near the entrance with the lights turned on

another view of the interactive corner.  On the left is an interactive exhibit where you can compare yourself to Barbie, Venus von Willendorf, and a full size model.

Shelia x4 and other pieces.  This area will serve as our stage for the Beyond Barbie nights

Illumination and In Memoriam

 

 

The show will be up until November 7 at Crossroads Art Gallery here in Richmond, Virginia.  I hope you get a chance to see it!