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2010 "Support Women Artists Now" (SWAN) Day PDX Celebration
Saturday and Sunday, March 27th and 28th , 12:00pm — 5:00pm
SWAN Day PDX Performance Showcase & Art Exhibit
Portland Expo Center
Connector Hall, Between D and E Hall
(Co-located next to the Energy Trust Better Living Show)
12:00 p.m. — 5:00 pm
2060 North Marine Drive
All Ages – Free admission
For more information and detailed schedules, please visit: http://www.betterlivingshow.org/SwanDayPDX.htm

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, Alberta Art Hop, 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.

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SWAN Day PDX History
Portland joined the first International SWAN Day in 2008. Events were held around the world on the last Saturday of March, Women's History Month, and were observed with over 160 events in 11 countries. Former Portland Mayor Tom Potter joined city officials from New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and others across the nation and throughout the world, by signing a proclamation declaring that day as official SWAN Day in Portland.

The annual world-wide event is organized by WomenArts, a San Francisco based non-profit arts organization that offers networking, fundraising and advocacy services to over 500,000 visitors a year. It is founded on the belief that women artists have the power to change the way women are perceived in our society and is dedicated to helping women artists get the resources they need to do their creative work.

SWAN Day serves to unite women artists with their audiences and supporters, and to create a powerful alliance to ensure women's voices are heard. "The focus of this day is to celebrate the women artists who are creating change in their communities and around the world”, said Martha Richards, the co-founder of SWAN Day.

Visit the WomanArts SWAN Day website: www.womenarts.org