Miaow! Miaow! : London's First DIY, Indie Womyn's Festival!
Two amazing things!
#1
We are writing you to formally invite you to a rather exciting event!
Please take this as your invitation to attend the upcoming first annual event titled:
"Miaow! Miaow! : London's First DIY, Indie Womyn's Festival!"
This is a celebration of London's finest womyn who are active in the visual arts, theatre, performance, literature, music and politics!
A few of us in the city noticed a severe lack of not only womyn artists in the art market but also a lack of community surrounding these womyn. There is an incredible number of womyn in the city that are challenging the boundaries in the above arenas and it is high time they left the home and took to the streets with their amazing works!
We invite you not only to see for yourself the wonderful art and intellectually stunning commentary from a womyn's stand point but also to show your support for a demographic that has been undervalued for quite some time.
This is a two day event that will not only raise awareness for the creative womyn in the city of London but will also go hand in hand with Sexual Assault Awareness month and raise funds for the Sexual Assault Centre of London (SACL) and The Blue House Effect!
How wonderful is that?
While this event focuses solely on womyn, it is open to all persons who wish to attend!
Allow us to break down some of the amazing things that will be occurring during these two wonderful days!
- Visual art that includes, yet is not limited to: painting, drawing, print, textiles, book binding, sculpting, fashion, knitting, craft, photography, ceramics, and more!
- We have been scouring the city for womyn centered organisations that offer essential services for those in need. We will have many a brochure/informational packages detailing the services provided and how you may access these essentials or how you can assist!
- We are looking high and low to bring back some of the most amazing DIY zines that have ever existed for womyn that cover everything from gender politics, parenting and physical and mental health. We are incredibly excited about this as we feel that a strong community of DIY knowledge sharing is desperately needed in the city of London!
- Live music from some of London's finest and most gifted womyn! We are excited to have these groups all in one location and with an entrance cover of "Pay What You Can/Donation," really, how could you not show your support?
- Merch tables of said amazing womyn musicians so you can take the love home!
- "To Wheels " of London has graciously donated one of the most stellar orange cruiser bikes known to mankind to be raffled off with proceeds going to the previously stated non-profit organisations! If you wish to view this beauty or purchase the winning ticket, saunter down to The Blackshire Pub (511 Talbot St). We also have a slew of gift certificates and art that will be raffled off from local businesses and artists!
- Open jam sessions where you can come and play your heart out with other talented musicians in the city!
- Open mic for the womyn in the city who wish to have the freedom to say and do as they please to an open audience!
- Local womyn run businesses and entrepreneurs on hand to discuss the essential services we require to keep our bodies and mind healthy! Free demonstrations and packages!
- Food!
- Bevies!
- Amazing people from the community and let's be honest, the creative side of the world is often the best company and the most hilarious and intriguing!
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#2
We are asking that you pass this information along to anyone you may feel will either wish to attend or wish to be a part of our event!
We are seeking to be a non-juried space for womyn (of all circumstance) to exhibit their creative endeavours. We also wish to provide a way for like minded individuals to connect and possibly form working relations in the arts and such. If you know any womyn who are creative in any fashion, please encourage them to contact us (we're delightful!) and discuss with us what we can do to help them feel comfortable with exhibiting and to aid them in seeing their projects come into fruition!
We are open to dance troupes, performance art, poetry slammers, visual arts, spoken word and musicians!
Help support and make this the biggest success!
Email us with your questions or your project ideas!
We are still accepting new projects and art love!
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We invite you to share in celebrations with us as we, a few local womyn, watch as London's finest come to the centre stage and show us all that make them amazing and wonderful. "Miaow! Miaow!" was thought up by womyn, organised by womyn and run entirely by local womyn of many ages groups, races, backgrounds and orientations.
We are 100% volunteer run!
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Please view the attached image for specifics and feel free to pass it along to anyone you feel would be interested!
Thank you!
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Thank you and happy creating!
In solidarity,
The "Miaow! Miaow!" Organising Kittens!
Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?
Purring?
Love?
Contact Us!
miaow.miaow.london@gmail.com
- Jenna Rose Sands's blog
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- The Black Bloc is never violent. EVER. Understand?
1 week 3 days ago - Some other places where this discussion is playing out
1 week 6 days ago - All of the revisions
2 weeks 2 days ago - Revisions
2 weeks 4 days ago - Not embedded
2 weeks 6 days ago - Quick excerpt from a Star editorial
3 weeks 5 days ago - how anarchist is the black bloc on a scale of 1 to 10?
3 weeks 5 days ago - Correct
3 weeks 6 days ago - Black Bloc, whoever they may be, screwed us indeed
3 weeks 6 days ago - elaborate?
3 weeks 6 days ago
The politics of exclusion are always wrong.
Exclusionary gender-specific events, clubs and organizations are inherently wrong. They are divisive and inflammatory.
It was offensive when men did it, and it's equally offensive when women/womyn do it.
I thought we were evolving past this kind of thing.
That's one way of looking at it...
Here's another way of looking at it.*link*
Pile on!
-30-
Mike.
"Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Michael C. McGregor overcame these handicaps to finish the Nike River Marathon dead last... for love! "
-=There is no Cabal, Long live the Cabal=-
My Photos
Exclusionary? Divsive? Inflammatory? Offensive? Go fishing!
Do you really believe that our society has 'evolved' to be gender equal here in 2009? I don't know what 'we' you are refering to, but I am a part of a larger society - and I would argue 'we' are all also.
Explaine how this event is divisive, inflammatory, and offensive. How is your statement not all these things? Why can't women support women without being bothered? Why don't you orgainize your own event! Perhaps you and other men/women who are so bothered by this 6 hour event you can go on a fishing trip and bitch about it.
It's not the critic who counts, not the person who points out how the strong person stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends themself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if s/he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that thier place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. Theodore Roosevelt
not that simple
Hi Nik,
I used to feel the same way, but I've come to realize that it's not always so simple.
Consider an example from the not-so-distant past. The IWW accepted men and women as equals in their union, but soon found that true equality doesn't come quickly or easily. Specifically, the Wobblies found that women were far less likely to speak up a meetings than the men. It wasn't because the women had less to contribute. It was because men and women were (and still are) raised differently. Men are socialized to speak up much more than women.
How did the Wobblies address the issue? By having meetings for women only. At these meetings girls and women got a chance to practice speaking in front of groups, building confidence and solidarity amongst themselves that they wouldn't have been able to in the meetings dominated by the men.
The same problem exists in grassroots organizing to this day. Men are still more likely to speak up at meetings. It's so common that men often fail to notice that it's happening. But it's exactly the kind of thing that is meant when we're asked to check our male privilege.
It boils down to this: we can't have true equality unless we pay attention to the obstacles faced by different groups, and take action to address them. Or at least accept and support those groups when they take action on their own.
Nik, As a womyn who has
Nik,
As a womyn who has been active in the visual arts for quite some time, I will say, from experience that there is a significant lack of suppot for womyn in the arts. I rather than complain about this fact, decided to do something about it. I suggest that if this event bothers you so much that you must squash the postivity and encouragement this is giving to others, that you get out and do something that is entirely inclusive in every single aspect....
I cannot, in any way, see how this is a negative event whatsoever.
Perhaps if you furthered your knowledge on the event and what we, the organisers are physically and mentally going through to promote creativity, knowledge and community, your negative view might be different.
Allow me to remind that all visual art exhibitions have an air of exclusivity to them, whether it is drawers only, painters only. Thematic exhibitions exclude anyone who deals with "other" content and there is not one exhibition that does not have something one could deem "exclusive."
Please check your priviledge as a male in the arts and realize that there are some womyn out there who really need our encouragement and support, not the usual negative response.
As a womyn, I will say that this is needed.
As a womyn, I will say I have heard and am still hearing that this is needed.
dearest nik.
being as you live right next door to me. and our cats (five together) feel comfortable enough to walk right into each others doors.
i thought i would remind you that i know where you live.
and i will see you soon.
tee hee.
el muff.
**join us or die**
we miaow-rrender
the patriarch raises the white flag. we surrender. be gentle.
Apologies
I apologize for posting so reactively and negatively. I was wrong. I was out of line.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to point this out and post more reasoned commentary than my own.
Obviously there are vast swathes of gray in an issue that I have chosen to approach in black-and-white terms.
I had assumed that the historical legal struggle to eliminate male-only spaces and generate a culture of absolute inclusivity consonant with our newly crafted Charter of rights and freedoms (at the time) was an inflexible ideal incompatible with gender-focused spaces, and that it was hypocritical to consider otherwise. Obviously that's too simplistic.
The opinions and information posted here force me to reconsider an alternative viewpoint. Legal equality and social equality are not equivalent. One lags behind the other.
Good on you
For reconsidering your opinion and being able to see things from a different perspective, it's not an easy thing to do for most people. :)
ditto - Good for You
I agree - we can all say stupid shit real quick but it takes strength to admit one's mistakes (especially publicly!). Thanks, nikharron.
...and they all lived happily ever after.
use event listing next time
No matter what one does on the internet there is always some person who feels entitled enough to fire away some negative opinion and get away with it under the cover of the medium. This is not the first time people in this community have seen a mysogneistic opinion, but it is hard not to feel surprised, dissapointed and even discouraged. It is, in my experience, not safe to blog on this site about anything remotely sensitive, there are too many detached ideologs who are apparently entitled to judge the efforts of others if they don't fit into their idea of how things "should be". Better to use event listings and hope no one starts a discussion there.
This could be a great website, This could be a great world. I'll be at the show.
Amelia, regardless of how
Amelia, regardless of how you feel about the event, or the conversation, whenever someone says "hope no one starts a discussion," i get my back up. the point of london commons is to facilitate conversation, not to exist in a vaccum.
Also, whether or not you agree with nik's opinion, his comment was not misogynist. his point was that he is a humanist, and thinks that everyone is equal and should be treated as such, and name calling is bad form regardless of the medium. his issue with the event was that it is for womyn only, in a world that he believes should be beyond such exclusion. It may be that exclusive spaces need to exist until there is true equality, or it may be that continuing to segregate is hurting more than it is helping. That is an interesting conversation to have, which is why people have responded. Open and honest communication is the only real way that people can come to understand one another and get anywhere. Of course, if you want to live in a world that can never move beyond segregation, by all means, start building those great big walls.
As for the discussion, i think that arts festivals of any kind are a wonderful thing, and we should celebrate and communicate our unique views of the world the way that only the arts can. the arts need more support, period, it's not just women having problems getting that support. now, if you said my ability to attend an event was based on my age/gender/race/height/hair colour etc, i would be very displeased. What can i say, i'm an includer.
m
oops.. I was dead wrong about it all...
You corrected me! Congrats!
Did you know?..
You can actually delete comments from your own blog if you wish. I'd only caution that if there have been any responses threaded off of a particular comment, they would be deleted along with the comment.
-30-
Mike.
"Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Michael C. McGregor overcame these handicaps to solve π"
-=There is no Cabal, Long live the Cabal=-
My Photos
if you take my posts off
then please have the decency to take off posts that react to what I said, especially with my name in them. my posts do not show up unless I am logged intot he website. Melissa's rebuttal to my short comment is misldeading, and I don't know why she was so enraged by what I said. It makes no sense to leave hers on when it responds to my comments which are gone. You obviously have your own 'reasons' for deleting my posts as well as whatever web policies you have. I have had to address you befor eon this site for your unfair web policing. I don't think anyone is interested in your explanation for why you removed my posts, and likely you dont have the right to anyway. If you delete this post I'll have to create a blog about it and then you'll have to delete my account, and exaplin that ok? I have received the 'message', Mike, and I will not partake in discussion here. How about a trade, leave this post up and I will refrain from engaging in discussion. Do you want that? It's fine with me, or do you enjoy policing me? I tried to find an email to admin but found nothing, so here it is.
Take a minute....
I think seeing as the original post was under my blog, Mike was just relaying info, not stating that he was deleting anything.
I think the anger over posts that are not even deleted is a bit much. I have no intention of deleting posts and all of the comments are hidden when I am not logged in so I do not think it is something that is specifically aimed at any one person.
I think the hostility beginning on here is unnecessary, as I think there has been a miscommunication or two. No one said they were deleting anything by any one person, until that happens, let's not get angry.
this info was for mike,
I don't have a way of contacting him, it has nothing to do with you. I didn't make it clear that I was talking to the website admin, I apologize. I will be deleting my account shortly. I asked mike to delete the comment addressed to my name by melissa, instead of just deleting my posts. People are always hostile toward me on this site, there is a history here you are not aware of that relates to the issues above. Again I apologize Jenna for the confusion.
check you personal messages
There will be a message for you in your PM box in a minuet or two.
-30-
Mike McGregor
LC User Moderator