Art, Activism & Equity Symposium

Co-presented by the New Hazlett Theater, Greater Pgh Arts Council & Women and Girls Foundation
Part of the Women in the Arts Festival

April 18, 2008–April 19, 2008

The New Hazlett Theater, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the Women and Girls Foundation present a dynamic symposium, Art, Activism & Equity, as part of the "Women in the Arts" Festival on April 18 and 19, 2008. The festival celebrates the accomplishments of women in the arts in Pittsburgh and connects the local arts community with national resources, trends, and philosophies.

The symposium in April will explore solutions regarding Southwest Pennsylvania's embarrassing record of women's compensation rates, build networks among Pittsburgh's emerging and established arts leaders while celebrating our region's unique strengths as a center for individual accomplishment. The program will also explore politics and feminism and will encourage local action, connection to resources and coalition building.

FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008, 2:00 to 9:00 PM

Registration and Welcome Reception - 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Opening Remarks - 2:00 PM to 2:15 PM

Jane Werner, Executive Director, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Opening Presentation - 2:15 PM to 3:45 PM

Guerrilla Girls, featuring Frida Kahlo, on the history and work of the Guerrilla Girls in exposing sexism, racism and corruption in the art world, politics, film and pop culture.

Workshops - 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Workshop A

Crafting Your Life: Craftivism & Creating Community

and Web Hacks for Artists

Presenters:

Faythe Levine, Director and Author of "Handmade Nation: Documenting the rise of DIY Art, Craft & Design" and Elizabeth Perry, writer, new media artist and fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University.

Faythe Levine's Crafting Your Life will be a visually led discussion about alternative ways to structure your life, create community and use your creative skills towards personal exploration or direct action. Faythe will share examples and lead an interactive discussion about craft, activism and community and they ways they can overlap from the home to the gallery and the street, to the hands of corporate CEO's. This session explores the concept of DIY from two perspectives: 1) the actual DIY movement occurring locally/nationally and 2) DIY in arts-based initiatives/projects.

New media artist Elizabeth Perry will lead a discussion called Web Hacks for Artists. Sharing online strategies and exploring ways artists use new web-based tools for communication, collaboration, and community-building, Elizabeth will draw on her own experience and share easy ways to use blogs, wikis, syndication and more - for creative expression and conversation with other artists and new audiences.

Workshop B

Guerrilla Girls

Getting active and initiating change. Limited to 30 people.

Reception - 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Hosted by Women and Girls Foundation

Panel Discussion - 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The quest for equality is still critical. Conversation will explore today's feminist movement in the arts, in politics, in business and across generations.

Opening Remarks by Pat Ulbrich, University of Pittsburgh Women�¢??s Studies Visiting Scholar

Moderator: Sara Radelet and Sylvia Rhor

Panelists:

Heather Arnet, Women and Girls Foundation

Vanessa German, Slam poet and visual artist

Chelsa Wagner, Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Nancy Washington, Vice Chairperson, August Wilson Center for African American Culture

Performance - 8:30 PM

Selected works by Vanessa German

Resource Expo

The main lobby will feature "resource" booths with information for artists and audience members to secure funding, get involved locally and globally, and spur their own projects.

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008, 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM

Registration, Welcome Reception and Resource Expo Exhibit - 10:30 AM to 12:15 PM

Opening Remarks - 12:15 PM to 12:30 PM

Sara Radelet, Executive Director, New Hazlett Theater

Focus of the day will be on identity and equity both locally and globally.

Opening Presentation - 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM

Melissa Swauger, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Carlow University, will present the Implicit Association Test, demonstrating that we all have subconscious discriminations.

Panel Discussion - 1:15 PM to 2:30 PM

Women Making Change! Today women in PA make 70 cents for every buck a man earns. This panel will talk about how we can work together to CHANGE this!

Moderator: Heather Arnet, Women and Girls Foundation

Panelists:

Selena Schmidt, Chief of Staff for City Council President Doug Shields

Leslie Curtis, Coordinator, USW Health Care Workers Council

Audrey Murrell, University of Pittsburgh, Katz School of Business

Mini Catapult Workshop - 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Presenter: Heather Arnet, Women and Girls Foundation

Catapult is a new project of the Women & Girls Foundation focused on training women in the workforce in the art of negotiation. In this effort, WGF has partnered with Best Selling Author Dr. Linda Babcock (author of "Women Don't Ask" and "Ask For It") to develop a curriculum to train women to be more powerful negotiators -- and how to share this knowledge with one another! This workshop will be focused on how women artists (and others) can learn to recognize negotiation opportunities and build up their negotiation muscles! Whether you are a painter, actor, writer, or lawyer this workshop will introduce you to some important negotiation basics and best practices.

Arnet has worked professionally as a playwright and director in theatre and television, and served as the Director of Development at City Theatre, prior to joining the Women and Girls Foundation as Executive Director. In this workshop she will combine her knowledge of the arts (and its unique opportunities and challenges for women) and the best practices in negotiation from WGF's Catapult program to help you learn how to be confident and successful in your artistic and business collaborations.

Reception - 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Featuring drinks created by the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC).

Performances

Autumn Ayers - 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM

Nicole Reynolds - 6:45 PM to 7:45 PM

Soma Mestizo - 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Resource Expo

The main lobby will feature "resource" booths with information for artists and audience members to secure funding, get involved locally and globally, and spur their own projects.

Resource Expo Presenters

E-Magnify women's business center at Seton Hill University

Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

Handmade Arcade

The Idea Foundry

Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC)

PA Women Work

The Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy at Chatham University

Pennsylvania Commission for Women

Women and Girls Foundation

Women In Film and Media - Pittsburgh Chapter

Presenter and Performer Information

Autumn Ayers

Autumn Ayers is a singer/songwriter whose first album, Drunk, Again, was chosen as one of WYEP's top local releases for 2005. Since graduating from Point Park University with a BFA in Theater she has performed with many companies scattered about the country, most recently trekking to Edinburgh, Scotland with local company Bare Bones Productions as Cherry in the world premier of James Macmanus' Cherry Smoke. As of November 2007 she is the lead singer and newest member of locally-based performance art group Squonk Opera. She is currently in pre-production for her second solo album.

Heather Arnet

Heather Arnet serves as the chief spokesperson, fundraiser, and advocate for the organization. Since joining the Foundation as its first Executive Director, she has spearheaded Women and Girl's Foundation's efforts to pursue legislation at the city, county, and state levels for fair representation for women on Pennsylvania's appointed boards, authorities, and commissions. In 2004, Arnet was selected as one of Pittsburgh's "Top 40 under 40" by Pittsburgh Magazine. In 2003 she was honored with an award in "Art and Activism" from the Thomas Merton Center for Social Justice, and in 2005 AAUW awarded Heather a "Friend of Equity Award" for her work in fighting for women's rights.

Vanessa German

Slam poet and visual artist, Vanessa German, has shown and performed throughout the country. A featured performer at the International Arts Festival in Grahmstown, South Africa, Vanessa's performance poetry could be seen and heard in Germany, Sweden, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Olympia, and New Mexico. Vanessa was a 2005 and 2006 nominee for Emerging Artist of the Year at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. She is the National Slam Bush Champion, Ink Tank Slam Champion, and was voted Best Spoken-word Poet by the Pittsburgh City Paper.

Guerrilla Girls

In their own words -- Who are the Guerrilla Girls?

We're a bunch of anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks. We have produced posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. We use humor to convey information, provoke discussion, and show that feminists can be funny. We wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than our personalities. Dubbing ourselves the conscience of culture, we declare ourselves feminist counterparts to the mostly male tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Batman, and the Lone Ranger. Our work has been passed around the world by kindred spirits who we are proud to have as supporters. It has also appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Bitch and Bust; on TV and radio, including NPR, the BBC and CBC; and in countless art and feminist texts. The mystery surrounding our identities has attracted attention. We could be anyone; we are everywhere. (http://www.guerrillagirls.com/)

Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC)

LUPEC is a nationwide organization whose acronym stands for Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Actually, make that a feminist organization. As the LUPEC motto goes, "they're dismantling the patriarchy one drink at a time." In a post-millenium world of beer and prepackaged Chex Mix, LUPEC works tirelessly to breed, raise, and release cocktails that are endangered or even believed to be extinct.

Faythe Levine

Faythe Levine is an artist and organizer based out of Milwaukee, WI. She is currently working on her first documentary film Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY Art, Craft and Design which is due to premier in 2009. She is the co-author of a book under the same title published by Princeton Architectural Press that will be released in November 2008. Faythe is the founder and coordinator of Art vs. Craft, co-owner of brick and mortar space Paper Boat Boutique & Gallery and does freelance curating and design work. She also plays the musical saw in the experimental musical group Wooden Robot. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Utne Reader, Venus Magazine, Paper Magazine, and American Craft Magazine.

Growing up in Seattle during the 1990's gave Levine firsthand exposure to many punk bands and the riot grrrl scene. This underground community quickly exposed her to DIY ethics, and she learned early on that you could release, self-publish and distribute your music and zines through a vast nationwide network of like-minded people. In 2003, she found herself looking at an emerging movement that embraced both art and community, which can now loosely be defined as "the new wave of craft." This movement is exploring the uncertainty of where fine art meets craft, redefining and reclaiming creativity. The new wave of craft is influenced by the history and techniques of traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art.

Soma Mestizo

Christiane D's lyrics tell unconventional stories in traditionally prose or poetic ways -- more extreme that the folk ballads of Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan. Leach's stories are like movies, with scenes set and emotions conveyed through the eyes of the characters, rather than recounting the exploits of "Frankie and Johnny". At times, these songs can push the envelope of music, such as on "Next Victim", a disturbing, percussion-laden track on Peepshow that stretches the border between song and prose. Justin Hopper, City Paper

Elizabeth Perry

Elizabeth Perry is a writer and new media artist. Her sketchbook journal may be found at www.elizabethperry.com/woolgathering, where she has been blogging since 2002. She is a fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University and a founding editor of the award-winning Pittsburgh Signs Project, an online public art project documenting the visual landscape of western Pennsylvania (www.pittsburghsigns.org). Perry works at The Ellis School, an all-girls independent school in Pittsburgh, where she helps teachers integrate technology into a PK-12 curriculum. She has spoken and taught workshops about blogging and other new technology for artists both locally at venues like the Mattress Factory Museum and the Technology and the Arts conference at Carnegie Mellon University, and nationally at conferences like BlogHer (San Jose, 2006; Chicago, 2007) and She's Geeky (Mountain View, CA, 2007.

Elizabeth Perry has created a wiki (a.k.a. a collaborative website whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it) for her session. After the event, this wiki will function as an ongoing online community and a way for everyone to continue the dialogue. http://art-activism-equity.pbwiki.com

Sara Radelet

Sara Radelet, Executive Director of the New Hazlett Theater, has over 13 years of experience in the non-profit sector and a long-standing involvement in Pittsburgh's arts community. With expertise in nonprofit fundraising and organizational management, Sara's strengths are in building small non-profit arts groups to their next threshold of development, skills she honed during ten years of employment at the Mattress Factory art museum.

Sara holds a BA in Liberal Arts from The George Washington University and is certified in Economic Development Finance through the National Development Council. While living in Washington DC, she worked as a sub-contracted stage hand, assisting crews on band tours, conventions and conferences. She is President of the Board of Directors of Quantum Theatre, Secretary to the Board of Directors of Artists Image Resource, Secretary to the Board of Directors of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. In 2000, Sara was named as one of Pittsburgh's "40 under 40". She also plays bass guitar in two rocck'n'roll bands: Peevo and The Shanks.

Nicole Reynolds

The 24-year-old Pittsburgh native's most recent disc, "This Arduous Alchemy"is a collection of fetching come-ons and bittersweet yearning or, in her own words, a "breakup and recovery album" draped against a pastoral background of tuneful folk strains and rootsy meanderings infused with a jazz swing.

Sylvia Rhor

The Sylvia Rhor is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Carlow University, where she teaches courses on feminism and art history, public art, and modern art in Europe, the United States and Mexico. She received her BA from New York University and her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Her dissertation focused in part on women's activism in the arts in Chicago at the beginning of the last century. Before moving to Pittsburgh, Sylvia worked as a museum educator and an independent curator at The Art Institute of Chicago, and continues to connect her academic research with museum work and community programming in Pittsburgh. She has served on the advisory board of the Women and Girl's Foundation's Girls as Grantmakers project and currently serves on the Board of Gateway to the Arts. She is also member of the Sprout Fund's Public Art Advisory Committee and a member of the Advisory Board of the newly founded Toonseum in Pittsburgh.

Selena Schmidt

A boomeranger -- although prefers "gumbander" -- Selena Schmidt grew up in Pittsburgh and began her career in politics working for grassroots environmental causes in the tri-state area. She organized with local groups on dozens of issues and helped to write Pennsylvania's Wetlands Protection Act and Pesticides in Schools Notification Act. Selena went on to work with other grassroots advocacy organizations in New England, DC, and New Jersey and worked on electoral campaigns in eight states.

Taking a private sector turn, Selena launched her first business, Ground for Appeal, a specialty Coffee and Espresso Bar, in Downtown Pittsburgh. She became active with the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) where she was named Rookie of the Year and Public Policy Advocate of the Year. She later served as the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter President for three years, was elected to the NAWBO National Public Policy Board and was on the re-launch board of the NAWBO PAC.

After attending Yale's Campaign School for Women, Selena launched her second business, Ammerschmidt Public Image Consulting, LLC. Working with a group of consultants, Ammerschmidt worked with candidates and women business owners in Pittsburgh and New York, including running campaigns and electing the first ever African-American woman to Allegheny County office.

Selena returned to Pittsburgh full-time and worked at the Coro Center for Civic Leadership to develop and build their flagship Fellows Program in Public Affairs, then became the Director of Leadership Development. Her civic role expanded into regional development issues; she served as Co-Chair of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance Business Attraction Team, Co-Chair of the Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners Grant Making Committee, appointed to the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) Policy Advisory Committee, and joined the board of Friends of the Riverfront.

Selena was selected as one of Pittsburgh Magazineâ??s 40 Under 40 and inducted into the Womenâ??s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Selena now serves as Chief-of-Staff for Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields. In her role, she developed a training and orientation program for the 135th Council and their staff. She has written numerous pieces of legislation including the first permanent funding stream for the Pittsburgh Promise and requiring the city to do a Gender and Race Pay Equity study of its workforce. She is currently serving on the City of Pittsburgh Ethics Board Code revision working group.

Selena is proud to have recently joined the Strong Women Strong Girls Advisory Board and the Board of PCTV-21.

Melissa Swauger

Melissa Swauger is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Carlow University. She teaches undergraduate courses including Introduction to Sociology, Women and Work, Women in Culture and Society, and Social Theory. Her research interests include gender, race, and social class inequalities in education and work. Melissa has also worked as a consultant for local youth-serving organizations including The Consortium for Public Education and Gwen's Girls.

Patricia M. Ulbrich, Ph.D.

Dr. Ulbrich has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, program development and program evaluation in the fields of higher education and human services. She received a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Illinois and a NIMH post-doctoral fellowship in social psychology at the University of Indiana . Her research has focused on gender, race, and class disparities in health and social statuses. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in sociology, and worked to integrate issues of race, class and gender into the curriculum at the University of Miami and the University of Akron . She has also provided diversity training (gender equity, cultural competency, inclusivity) for schools and non-profit organizations.

As a Senior Research Associate at Adagio Health in Pittsburgh , Dr. Ulbrich developed, implemented and evaluated research focused on women's health. These efforts included process and outcome evaluations. She evaluated CDC funded, community based adolescent pregnancy prevention programs in Pittsburgh . She designed, implemented and evaluated an innovative project to introduce screening for domestic violence in family planning clinics in rural, southwestern Pennsylvania . She served in an advisory capacity to both the CDC and the Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regarding national research and policy agendas on domestic violence and reproductive health. She also collaborated with a family planning agency in Philadelphia to secure NIH funding to study differential access to emergency contraception in Pennsylvania . Her consulting business, Ulbrich and Associates, provides a variety of services to non-profits and foundations including applied research, program development and program evaluation for making data-driven decisions to ensure quality and effectiveness of programs and projects. Working as a community volunteer, she provided the strategic leadership to envision the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania and served as President of the Founding Board of Directors. She designed and conducted the Status of Women in the Counties (eleven counties in southwest Pennsylvania ) research project as a needs assessment for the foundation. Dr. Ulbrich has presented the results of applied and evaluation research in peer-reviewed journals and at national conferences.

Chelsa Wagner

Rep. Chelsa Wagner was elected to her first term in the Pennsylvania State House in 2006, becoming the first-ever female to be elected for a full term in the State House from the City of Pittsburgh (along with her colleague, Lisa Bennington, who was elected at the same time). Her election to the State House also filled a gender-void in what was the previously all male Allegheny County 23-member delegation. Wagner resides in the Beechview section of the City of Pittsburgh, where she was born and raised. Approximately two-thirds of Wagner's district is in the City of Pittsburgh, with the other one-third spanning suburban communities to the City's south. Specifically, the district includes the city communities of Beechview, Brookline, Chateau, Esplen, Manchester, Mt. Washington, Duquesne Heights, Overbrook, Sheraden, Southshore and the suburban communities of Baldwin Township, Castle Shannon and Whitehall.

In the House, Rep. Wagner serves as the secretary/treasurer of the Allegheny County Democratic Delegation. Her committee assignments include Transportation, Judiciary, Education and Commerce. She also concentrates much of her policy work and advocacy in the areas of urban renewal and community development.

Wagner serves on the Board of the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters and is the Vice President of the Pennsylvania Young Democrats.

Nancy Washington

Dr. Washington was honorary co-chairperson of the Pittsburgh Branch NAACP 44th Human Rights Dinner and received the Year 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pittsburgh's African American Alumni Association. Currently, her many community commitments include: president of the board of the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Foundation; member of the national board of directors of Girls, Inc.; member of the Women's Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art; member of the board of trustees of Point Park College and chairman of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee; member of the nominating committee of the Pittsburgh Symphony; member of the executive committee of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and chairman of the Program Committee; member of the board of City Theatre; member of the board of directors of the Frick Arts and Historical Center and trustee of the Pittsburgh Foundation. In addition, she is the co-chairman of the African American Cultural Center and the Multi-Cultural Arts Initiative Executive Committee.

Her honors include the 2001 "Tribute to the Women of the Year" Voluntary Community Service Leadership Award, recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award, Duquesne Light/WQED African American Leadership Award for Culture, Arts and Recreation, and the Delta Sigma Theta Mosaic Award for contributions to the arts. In 2003, she was named by the Governor to the Commonwealth of PA Council on the Arts.

Dr. Washington serves as a consultant for projects funded by area foundations and institutions of higher education.

Jane Werner

JaneWerner's 25 years of museum experience includes 15 years at The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh where she served as Program Director, Deputy Director and Executive Director. Werner is responsible for all aspects of the Museum's mission and vision, exhibits, public programming, funding and operations.

Werner leads the process for the long-range strategic planning and implementation at the museum. She has administered and led teams of museum professionals, community organizations and various working committees. The new Children's Museum of Pittsburgh opened in November 2004 after the completion of a $29M capital campaign. The museum is the largest Silver LEED rated museum in the United States and is the recipient of the 2006 American Institute of Architects National Award.

Prior to her tenure at the Children's Museum, Werner worked for the Franklin Institute Science Museum, The Carnegie Science Center and The Buhl Science Center. She ran her own exhibit design firm whose clients included The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, The Franklin Institute, Beechwood Nature Reserve and The Scientific Discovery Museum.

Werner currently sits on the Advisory Boards of Allegheny County Children, Youth & Families, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Forbes Fund and is President of the Board for the New Hazlett Theater. She has also served on the Boards of Directors for the Association of Children's Museums and the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums. She regularly participates and presents at various conferences around the country. Werner received a BFA in Synaesthetic Education from Syracuse University. She completed an internship early in her career at The Exploratorium in San Francisco. She attended the Museum Management Institute of the Getty Foundation (1999) and is a Fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University.

REGISTRATION PROCESS AND FEES

Friday & Saturday full program - $40/$20 students

Friday only - $25/$15 students

Saturday only - $25/$15 students

Evenings only $15 /$8

To register for the symposium or for more information, please call the New Hazlett Theater at 412-320-4610, ext. 17 or email to dsciranka@aol.com<