Archive for the "Press Releases" Category
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan Celia Swan/Kate Fisher (917) 865-6603 press@vday.org
New York, NY – February 4, 2010 – V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, will host its annual NYC benefit on Friday evening, February 5th, featuring a reading of playwright and V-Day Founder Eve Ensler’s newest work, I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World. The evening will be directed by actor/activist and V-Day Board member Rosario Dawson and held at the Urban Zen Center at Stephan Weiss Studio.
The reading will be performed by teen girls including Samantha Mozes and girls from V-Girls pilot sites in New York City – the Harvey Milk High School at the Hetrick Martin Institute, the Young Women’s Leadership School, and the Lower East Side Girls Club. Hosts include V-Day, Jennifer and Peter Buffett, Eve Ensler, Cynthia Nixon, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, David Stone and V-Board members Rosario Dawson, Beth Dozoretz, Donna Karan, Katherine McFate, Pat Mitchell, Cari Ross, Susan Celia Swan and Kerry Washington.
I Am An Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around The World is made up of original monologues about and for girls from around the world and aims to inspire girls to take agency over their minds, bodies, hearts and curiosities. The benefit coincides with the launch of V-Day’s corresponding pilot program, V-Girls, engaging young women in our “empowerment philanthropy” model, igniting their activism and providing them with a platform to amplify their voices.
Tickets from $100 – $5000 are on sale now at http://www.vday.org/nycevent . Tickets from $1000 – $5000 will include an intimate cocktail reception immediately after the reading.
The evening is made possible with the generous support of Bloomberg and Urban Zen. Proceeds will benefit V-Day’s work with women and girls worldwide.
* pending scheduling
About V-Day – V-Day is a global activist movement shattering taboos, raising millions and transforming communities to end violence against women and girls. Annually, activists stage thousands of benefit productions of Founder/playwright Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and other works. Working at the intersection of art, social action and politics, V-Day empowers grassroots activists to become leaders, turning pain to power. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $70 million, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 11,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic Of Congo, Egypt, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Pakistan and South Dakota. V-Day was named one of Worth magazine’s “100 Best Charities” in 2001 and Marie Claire’s “Top Ten Charities” in 2006. The ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. http://www.vday.org
“The simple statement, ‘I Am an Emotional Creature,’ becomes a challenge to the myriad ways in which girls are looked at but not seen, talked about but not listened to, used, discarded, violated, exploited, maimed, and at the extreme killed. Like a woman claiming her body, a girl claiming her emotions breaks a silence and unleashes a vast resource of clean energy, an energy that can inspire all of us to transform and heal the world.”
—Carol Gilligan, from the Foreword
Eve Ensler’s newest work, I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World, will be released in book form by Villard/Random House on February 9. Made up of original monologues about and for girls, the book aims to inspire girls to take agency over their minds, bodies, hearts and curiosities. V-Day has developed a corresponding targeted pilot V-Girls program engaging young women in our “empowerment philanthropy” model, igniting their activism and giving them a voice.
I Am an Emotional Creature chronicles the stories inspired by girls around the globe. Girls today often find themselves in a struggle between remaining strong and true to themselves and conforming to society’s expectations in an attempt to please. I Am an Emotional Creature is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be.
Among the girls Ensler creates are an American who struggles with peer pressure in a suburban high school; an anorexic blogging as she eats less and less; a Masai girl from Kenya unwilling to endure female genital mutilation; a Bulgarian sex slave, no more than fifteen, a Chinese factory worker making Barbies; an Iranian student who is tricked into a nose job; a pregnant girl trying to decide if she should keep her baby.
It is through these varying voices and experiences that V-Day hopes to nurture the future activists of the world. I Am an Emotional Creature will be a vehicle to empower girls and inspire activism. In 2010, readings of the book will be staged in twenty pilot locations, where teen girls will engage in the creative process, accompanied by a specially written curriculum addressing the issues in the book.
Through the V-Girls Program and I Am an Emotional Creature, we can come to understand the universality of girls everywhere: their resiliency, their wildness, their pain, their fears, their secrets, and their triumphs. I Am an Emotional Creature is a call, a reckoning, an education, an act of empowerment for girls, and an illumination for parents and for us all.
V-Day thanks Random House for its support of V-Girls.
ATTEND a V-Girls pilot reading >
PURCHASE YOUR TICKET for V-Day’s NYC February 5th fundraiser – a Benefit Reading of I Am an Emotional Creature >
READ BUST Magazine Review >
ORDER your copy today:
Amazon >
Barnes & Noble >
IndieBound >
One year after the earthquake that changed Haiti forever, V-Day remembers those who were lost, and honors those who have worked tirelessly since the devastation to take care of their brothers and sisters and hold their communities together. We remember with love our sister and V-Day activist Myriam Merlet. As we forge ahead in our work, we think of her limitless spirit and vision.
We are thrilled to have chosen “The Women and Girls of Haiti” as the 2011 Spotlight Campaign. During the 2011 V-Season, activists in over 1,500 locations around the world will present a new monologue written by Eve Ensler, which will raise awareness about the increased violence against women and girls in post-earthquake Haiti, and will raise funds to support V-Day’s efforts on the ground.
Join V-Day, Jennifer and Peter Buffett, Eve Ensler, Cynthia Nixon, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, and David Stone and V-Board members Rosario Dawson, Beth Dozoretz, Donna Karan, Katherine McFate, Pat Mitchell, Cari Ross, and Kerry Washington for a benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s newest work I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: The Secret life of Girls Around the World.
Directed by Rosario Dawson the readings will be performed by teen girls including Sosie Bacon and Samantha Mozes*
WHEN: Friday, February 5th 7:30pm
WHERE: Urban Zen Center at Stephan Weiss Studio, 711 Greenwich Street at Charles Street, NYC
Tickets from $100 – $5000 are on sale now at http://www.vday.org/nycevent
Tickets from $1000 – $5000 will include an intimate cocktail reception immediately after the reading.
Proceeds will benefit V-Day’s work with women and girls worldwide.
For any queries, contact Golzar at (212) 924-1229 or events@vday.org
Download a copy of the invite here >
I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: The Secret life of Girls Around the World chronicles the struggle of girls everywhere to overcome the obstacles, threats, and pressures that rob them of their originality and power. The piece is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be. vday.org
* pending scheduling
V-Day is trying to reach our sisters in Port au Prince who run the V-Day Haiti Sorority Safe House, which provides shelter to women survivors of violence and their children, as well as psychological, legal and medical support. While we have not been able to reach the staff at the Safe House, it is clear that increased help will be needed for women survivors of violence in the aftermath of the earthquake. Reports state that over 50,000 lives have been lost, and that Port Au Prince has been “flattened.”
To respond to this devastating natural disaster, V-Day is immediately initiating the V-Day Haiti Rescue Fund for the Safe House and community of women it serves. We urge you to support this effort and give generously. At this critical time, we cannot forget the women and girls of Haiti – women who already suffer some of the worst poverty and gender-based-violence in the world.
Join us, DONATE now >
Thursday, December 31st, is the last day to make tax-deductible donations for the 2009 tax year.
Please consider donating to V-Day to support women and girls throughout the world.
CLICK here to make your tax-deductible donation >
One in three women in the world will be beaten and raped in her lifetime. V-Day raises awareness and funds for grassroots organizations and programs in the US and throughout the world to address this reality. Please consider making a donation every dollar makes a difference. A gift of $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can give will have lasting impact and will ensure that V-Day continues to be a voice for women and girls in 2010 and beyond.
DONATE today to change the story of women in 2010 >
Thank you for your generous support and for helping us end violence against women and girls during this special season of giving. With your support, V-Day will continue its work, until the violence stops.
Esther Chávez Cano is world-renowned human rights activist and long time Vagina Warrior who, for over ten years brought international attention to the horrific violence committed against women and girls in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Since 1993, over 600 women and girls have been murdered in Juarez. Chavez worked tirelessly to assist the families of these women, and to help other survivors of violence through her work as founder of Casa Amiga, a domestic violence and rape crises center. In just ten years Casa Amiga has sheltered thousands of survivors of sexual crimes and other types of violence in the border region of Chihuahua, Mexico and provides psychological counseling, medical assistance, and legal aid for the survivors of domestic violence and incest.
Through Casa Amiga, Ms. Chávez Cano brought much needed education to the public on the rights of women and girls, and violence prevention. Ms. Chavez created a model, both nationally and internationally for empowering survivors of violence. She was the recipient of the 2008 National Human Rights Prize in Mexico (El Premio Nacional de los Derechos Humanos).
In November, Eve traveled to Pakistan for premiere production of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer in Islamabad, produced, directed, and organized by longtime V-Day activist and original V-Day Pakistan organizer Nighat Imran Rizvi. Nighat is founder of AMAL a youth-focused HIV/ AIDS action group that is one of the most visible advocates for prevention, treatment and awareness in Pakistan. AMAL, which means action in Urdu, is part of a network of 1,200 non-governmental and community-based organizations, engaging with a number of important related issues in the course of tackling the HIV/AIDS problem.
Following is Nighat’s update on the visit:
On November 14, in spite of security threats and the umbrella of violence hanging heavy over the city, Islamabad hosted a production of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer. Despite the prevailing sense of insecurity, despite the looming threat that anytime, anywhere, but especially at a public function in a public place, a bomb could go off, the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) saw a full house. Despite all this, twenty people got on stage to deliver monologues on violence against women and girls that were poignant, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, evocative, and sometimes frightening. Monologues that moved the public into realization and action.
Twenty people, ranging in age from sixteen to sixty; including women and men from the United States, the Middle East, and Europe, got on stage, and delivered twenty different but inherently identical messages addressing violence against women, to a rapt, attentive audience of over four hundred people.
And despite everything, the suicide bombers, the warnings not to go and the Islamic fundamentalists and the taboos surrounding vaginas, when Eve took to the stage to read her piece: “Fur is Back,” the audience was enraptured. Although she was talking about violence and war and rage and humiliation, she knows that laughter is important too, that it’s useless to simply lose yourself in despair. Her audience at the PNCA, on this night of the 14th of November, despite any discomfort they might feel with the subject matter, laughed out loud, they are involved, and through their laughter, recognized that something needs to be done.
-Nighat Imran Rizvi
READ Eve’s Huffington Post piece “The Other Face of Pakistan >
DONATE to AMAL >
V-Day Holiday V-Card
A V-Card supports the worldwide movement to end violence against women and girls and is the perfect gift for the Holidays!
Make a donation to V-Day on behalf of your friends and loved ones. V-Day will send a specially designed 2009 holiday V-Card letting them know of their unique gift.
The V-Gift will be used to address the most critical issues of violence against women and girls around the world.
Click Here To Give This Gift >
City Of Joy Gifts For The Holidays
Let V-Day’s City of Joy Gift Registry be your one-stop-shop for all of your holiday gift items. Through this registry, you can donate much needed items, such as children books and pens ($6.40), bread making supplies ($30.00) or bedding ($40.00) to the City of Joy on behalf of your family, friends and loved ones. These gifts will create a comfortable, caring, and healthy place for the women of the DRC.
Click Here To Give This Gift >
Amanda Keidan Jewelry
The Amanda Keidan V-Day Collection consists of two styles, the V-Day Ring, and the V-Day Necklace. Both styles bear the V-Day symbol, which has come to signify V-Day’s global message to end violence against women and girls and to change the story of women. Both pieces come in either gold or silver, and can be adorned with diamonds or rubies. Prices start at $110.
The Amanda Keidan Jewelry V-Day Collection is available exclusively through http://amandakeidan.com/vday.php
Amanda Keidan Jewelry obtains diamonds from respected and well-established suppliers that comply completely with U.S retailer requirements.
Click Here To Give This Gift >
Check out the V-Store for more V-Gifts at http://www.store-vday.org.
2009: TURNING PAIN TO POWER
In 2009, alongside our worldwide activists, V-Day was horrified by the brutal and rampant violence that makes the Congo the most dangerous place to be a woman or girl, but inspired daily by the spirit of the women and girls of the Congo. Impassioned by this spirit, we were determined to bring the story of the Congo to the world. In telling the story, we made new friends and associations, expanded our networks and felt truly reinvigorated as we entered our 11th year! Thanks to you we are able to continue this important work and TURN PAIN TO POWER.
DOWNLOAD V-DAY’S 2009 ANNUAL REPORT >
