PORTLAND JOINS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN CELEBRATING “SUPPORT WOMEN ARTISTS NOW” (SWAN) DAY

Third annual celebration of Portland’s diverse women artists seeks to encourage women of all ages to explore their creative side and to put the spotlight on gender bias in the arts.

Women are creating some of the most exciting and challenging art in the United States today, yet women continue to face employment discrimination in the arts and media.  By putting the spotlight on this important issue each year on the last weekend of Women’s History Month, international non-profit arts organization, WomenArts seeks to create equal opportunity for women in all creative fields.

As part of the largest grassroots movement in the world to celebrate women artists, Portland will be celebrating its third annual SWAN Day with a weekend of visual art, music, film groups, writing and performing arts.  Kicking off the festivities at noon, Saturday, March 27th will be a performance by Portland’s favorite harmonizing sisters and recipients of the 2009 Portland Music Awards “Band of the Year” award, Acoustic Minds.  

Event MCs include Oregon Art Beat producers, Katrina Sarson and Jule Gilfillan; as well as radio personality "Charlie Girl", Shel Bailey.  Musical performances scheduled throughout the weekend include songstresses Carley Baer & Elke Robitaille, The Shook Twins, Luna Moon & Soul’R and other local talents. 

This two-day showcase features over 30 area female artists: visual artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians and community organizations such as  Women’s Caucus for Art, Portland Women Writers, Women Writing for (a) Change, POW Fest (Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival), Women In Film (wif–pdx),  Film Action Oregon/Women’s Film Initiative, pdxCreativeXchange, Women Helping Women, Working Artists Network, Destination DIY, Scrap, Art on Alberta, Siren Nation - and others that support women in the arts.    The visual art exhibit includes works from Reetika Agarwal, Christina Eichelberger, Sarah Griswold, Christine Alexander Heinonen, Jessica Israel, Sienna Morris and members of Women’s Caucus for Art.

Come watch the artists at work, talk to women in the fields that interest you, participate in a discussion about Women in Creative Fields, create a collage piece to take home and participate in a writing workshop!

SWAN Day PDX is sponsored by Beard’s Framing and Music Millennium and co-located with the Energy Trust’s Better Living Show.  The event is free, welcomes all ages and is open to the public.