Black Women’s Arts Festival Newsletter 10/11/09

The Black Women’s Arts Festival – a Festival for Everyone!

Newsletter October 11, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) GREETINGS
2) AND NOW THERE ARE FOUR! (NEW BOARD MEMBERS & VOLUNTEER)
3) CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – BWAF PHILLY 2010 NOW SEEKING ARTISTS
4) WANTED: VOLUNTEER GRAPHIC ARTISTS FOR LICENSED BWAF PRODUCTS
5) CALL FOR LISTINGS FROM BWAF FEATURES & OUR ALLIES
6) GOODSEARCH US!
7) GOT MAIL? SEND YOUR ADDRESS FOR OUR COOL PAPER-TYPE THINGS!
8) FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKING LINKS


CONTENTS OF TABLE

1) GREETINGS

Greetings, Friends!

I am so happy to be getting in the groove of running BWAF in the way that feels comfortable for me, getting re-acclimated as its sole director, as I was for only one year – our first, 2003.
I am assembling folks around me who are strong in areas where I’m weak, and the things I thrive in are able to express themselves freely for the first time, again, since 2003. We have new staff, board members, and a dedicated volunteer already – and I plan to double the numbers in the next few months, if not weeks.
It was brought to my attention, by a black woman, incidentally, that there isn’t nearly enough focus in our website, flyers, posters, or communications that this event is for everyone. I want to take this opportunity to say that it is! While we feature black women, certainly not everyone who has graced one of our stages has been a melanin-enriched female type. We are the leaders of the band - we are the playwrights, the directors, the painters and the sculptors, etc., but our subject matter needn’t be “black” nor “feminine”, and those who assist us in getting our work out don’t always look like us. More importantly, those who attend our events and p/matronize our work aren’t all black women, either, and nor should they be.
If BWAF puts on a show and the only people in the audience are black women, we’ve failed. All of our communities and allies should be interested in and support our work. Not everyone will love it, but everyone who wants to attend should feel welcome to.
It’s one of my goals (starting with adding the marketing slogan “a Festival for Everyone!” to our title), begin making the necessary changes on our website and so forth to ensure that all of Philadelphia and the world for that matter know that BWAF is for everyone. All respectful persons are welcome to attend, and certainly support our work.
Look to future newsletters to learn about projects in the works, including updates about our Themed Journals, other products, and more.
Also as all nonprofits do, we urge you to donate. It’s not by miracles or energy alone that we have had 6 festivals to date. It’s also by money…your money! So please consider donating today (info below). We’re glad you’re on our team, and we appreciate your energy, however you’re able to share it with us.
And now…the news!


2) AND NOW THERE ARE FOUR! (NEW BOARD MEMBERS & VOLUNTEER)
Welcome new board members Vanessa Lowe and Allison Paul! Vanessa is an economic development specialist who has served on many boards, has great ideas and is a major fan of BWAF. Allison is the director of the 40th annual Clark Park Music & Arts Festival, very energetic and eager to work with BWAF as she does with other community arts collectives.
In the previous newsletter, I announced new staff person Ebony Malaika Collier, a longtime Philly poet and supporter of the arts. Ebony will be helping a lot with the BWAF Pages print and online editions, respectively.
I've just updated our website to reflect these changes in staff (see it here: http://bwafphilly.homestead.com/about.html), and I've also included links to former organizers Monica McIntyre (who also served as Creative Director of BWAF for 2 years), Koko Hans aka Kenyetta Overton, Daniel De Jesus, and Maleka Diggs.



3) CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – BWAF PHILLY 2010 NOW SEEKING ARTISTS
Early bird submission applications are now available at our website (the specific link is http://bwaf2010submissions.eventbrite.com/). Please note that the discounted price is now $10 to apply and will go up after the deadline of January 15, 2010. That page also explains why we charge a fee (takes a lot of time to review each submission, and we receive many).
If you’d like to be considered to feature in 2010’s event, now is a great time to apply.
[Offline version: To receive a paper submission form, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Black Women’s Arts Festival, Request for Submission Forms, 3721 Midvale Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19129-1743]


4) WANTED: VOLUNTEER GRAPHIC ARTISTS FOR LICENSED BWAF PRODUCTS
We are looking for 2-3 volunteers who know how to use basic Adobe PhotoShop to create simple images from slogans and concepts and create JPEGs of them for us.
We’re also looking for graphic designers to help us with our other marketing and publicity projects.
We can include your business name and contact through our various print and online advertising opportunities. If you’re interested, please email us at BWAFphilly(at)yahoo.com.


5) CALL FOR LISTINGS FROM BWAF FEATURES & OUR ALLIES
I’d like to start including news of our previous BWAF Features and our allies in one or more of our online communications. If you have featured at the BWAF, or you are a major supporter of our work, and you have news of your business or events you think we and our audience would be helped to know about, please send a 75-word classified ad along with your name, business/performing name, contact info (phone/email/website), as you feel is appropriate and send it to: BWAFpages(at)gmail.com. We will soon be changing the format of our official mailing list www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly to be only news from and about the BWAF organization itself, and funneling the messages from other folks to BWAF Pages. Stay tuned!


6) GOODSEARCH US!
If you need to look something up on the internet, rather than using Yahoo or Google.com, consider going to www.Goodsearch.com and selecting our organization “Black Women’s Arts Festival”. We’ll get money with every search, and from what I’m told, it adds up!
BWAF ally Eric Hamell said on our Facebook profile, “They also have a toolbar now, so you don't even have to go to their home page to use the search function.”
So, there you have it, folks!

7) GOT MAIL? SEND YOUR ADDRESS FOR OUR COOL PAPER-TYPE THINGS!
One of the projects in the works is a direct mail campaign from us to you. If you’d like to be on our paper mailing list, please respond to this message with your postal mailing address. You can also email it to: BWAFphilly(at)yahoo.com. Offline? Mail a postcard with your address on it to: Black Women’s Arts Festival, 3721 Midvale Ave, Philadelphia PA 19129-1743.


8) FACEBOOK AND OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKING LINKS
Please take a moment to click on all our FB links and befriend us. Also, if you’re a black woman artist, or an ally of BWAs, please network with us and with each other – befriend befriend, befriend!

BWAF Facebook Profile (don’t forget to log in first): http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1303307631&ref=profile

BWAF Facebook Group (log in and then click): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53284687509

We’re on MySpace, too: www.myspace.com/BWAFphilly

You can always join our official email list by sending a blank email to: BWAFphilly-subscribe(at)yahoogroups.com
We invite and welcome your tax-deductible donation (we’re a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization) to the address below.

Thanks for everything and see you next time!

In art & community,
Cassendre Xavier
renaissance negresse
Founder & Executive Director
Black Women's Arts Festival (Est. 2003)
A Festival for Everyone!

Contact:
Black Women's Arts Festival
3721 Midvale Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19129-1743
(215) 951-0330, x 2108
Email: info(at)BWAFphilly.org
Website: www.BWAFphilly.org
MySpace: www.myspace.com/BWAFphilly
Yahoo Group (or official mailing list): www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly
Join our Facebook Group!

[So, did you dig this newsletter? Please forward it to every living creature you’re in contact with, print it out and give it to folks you know “don’t do the internet” and we promise you good things will come to you and your descendants!]

© 2009 Black Women’s Arts FestivalÔ, BWAF, BWAF PhillyÔ. All rights reserved.

To view this on Blogspot, visit http://bwafphilly.blogspot.com/2009/10/black-womens-arts-festival-newsletter.html

To view this on Yahoo Groups, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWAFphilly/message/3270

P.S. Send us money :-)