For Women of Rage and Reason
Submitted by AfroLez on April 27, 2007 - 4:40pm.
login or register to post comments
This session will be on: June 29, 2007 - 3:30pm It will be held at: Piedmont room at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown View scheduleOrganization DescriptionCreated and founded in 1992 by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, AfroLez® Productions is a multimedia arts organization committed to using the moving image, the written and spoken word to make central the voices and perspectives of marginalized and oppressed people with a particular emphasis on the lives of African-American women and girls. Since the early nineties, Aishah Shahidah Simmons has had a deep and profound appreciation for and understanding of the critical need to shed light on controversial and ignored subjects within African-American communities, without reinforcing stereotypes. Her goal with the work of AfroLez® Productions is to visually engage audiences while educating them and encouraging them to work towards eradicating racism, sexism, and homophobia, in all of their violent manifestations. This is most evident in her two shorts Silence...Broken and In My Father's House, which explore the impact of oppressions on the lives of Black lesbians; and her feature length work NO! (The Rape Documentary), which looks at the universal reality of rape through the testimonies, scholarship, activism, spirituality, and cultural work of African-Americans. Monica Dillon is a New Orleans native and based jazz/blues/funk singer/pianist, composer, and producer. She uses her cultural work to advocate for women's rights, freedom, justice, and equality, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. A survivor of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she lost everything she owned but is one of the fortunate ones to be able to return to New Orleans to rebuild that, which was lost. Through her organization Burning Sage Enterprises, Monica produced/directed/edited "And The Living Is Easy," a two-hour documentary video, which is a personal meditation on life in New Orleans, six months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast. Her song No, which is a powerful call to action to end all forms of violence perpetuated against women in girls is featured in the documentary NO!. She is presently composing the score for the documentary Belly of the Basin, produced and directed by Tina Morton and Roxana Walker-Canton of A Sister's Eye On Media Productions, which deals with the retention of New Orleans culture, from the perspectives of those most marginalized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Additionally she's both composing the score for and editing the NO! Supplemental Educational Video, which will feature selected in-depth excerpts from the thirty-plus hours of footage that didn't make it into the final version of NO! For more information, please visit www.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org and www.monicadillon.com Proposal Demographicsidentify as women identify as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gendered, queer) identify as people of color are artists/cultural workers Session DescriptionThere is an ongoing covert and overt racist/sexist/heterosexist war being waged against women of Color. One of its vicious wo/manifestations is all forms of sexual violence, which is sanctioned both outside and inside of our communities, perpetuated against women and girls of Color. Women of Color who are survivors of sexual assault are often at the intersections of racial and sexual oppression. If our perpetrator is a man of Color, more often than not, we are expected/asked to sacrifice our lives, our dignity, even our sanity to protect that man of Color from racism. It is imperative that all communities of Color understand that sexual violence is a crime/illness that must be stopped/cured. Now, more than ever before, women of Color, throughout the United States and around the world are speaking out against the sexual violence that we experience both inside and outside of our communities. We're engaging in dialogues/program work/conferences that look at the vicious ways in which both white supremacy and patriarchy/male supremacy are consistently destroying our communities. We understand that single-issue politics will never liberate our communities because no one is free while others are oppressed. Using the herstories and contemporary realities of African-American women, "For Women of Rage and Reason," an interactive workshop, co-facilitated by Aishah Shahidah Simmons and Monica Dillon, will use cultural work (social change documentary film and music) to 1). Identify the obstacles faced by women who experience trauma, with a particular emphasis on trauma caused by sexual violence; 2). Present an empowering space for women to openly discuss their trauma; 3). Assist women in learning from their experience of external and internationalized sexism/misogyny, racism, homophobia/heterosexism, and classism to recover from sexual assault and other forms of trauma; and 4). Provide women with options, such as cultural work-inclusive of the arts that challenges the racist/sexist/heterosexist status quo, spirituality that empowers women as agents for social change, concrete ways to hold men who perpetuate any form sexual violence are held accountable in our non-monolithic communities; and sisterhood/camaraderie for healing from sexual violence and other forms of trauma. Audio/Visual (at least access to electrical outlets) is preferred. First NameAishah Shahidah Last NameSimmons Contact E-mailnofilmfestivals@gmail.com Proposing OrganizationAfroLez Productions Organization Websitewww.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org Position or TitleProducer/Director, Co-Facilitator Contact Telephone215-701-6150 Alternate Telephone215-380-5279 Event DayFriday, June 29th (Visioning / Envisioning Another World) Contact AddressPO Box 58085 FormatSmall/Large group discussion, PowerPoint presenation Contact CityPhiladelphia KeywordsCulture & Art/Music/Media Feminism Violence against women Audience Number25-50 people Contact StatePA Contact ZIP19102-8085 Person ReviewingAllison B. |