Black Women’s Arts Festival Newsletter 02 September 2012

1) GREETINGS 2) HAITUS UPDATE 3) PARTNERSHIP WITH MOONSTONE 4) SUPPORT THE BLACK WOMEN'S ARTS FESTIVAL ======================================================== 1) GREETINGS Greetings, folks, and welcome to another edition of the Black Women's Arts Festival Newsletter! The Black Women's Arts Festival is based in Philadelphia, PA, USA, and has been producing multi-disciplinary performing and other creative and healing arts by self-identified women and girls of African heritage since 2003. The event itself is a multi-day, multi-venue one which has primarily happened at The Rotunda, affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. The founder and director is Cassendre Xavier, and previously the Festival has also been co-organized and directed by Monica McIntyre. To learn more about the Black Women's Arts Festival, visit http://bwafphilly.homestead.com/. 2) HAITUS UPDATE The 8th Annual Black Women's Arts Festival, which happened in Philadelphia July 27 thru 31st, 2011 at 5 venues was the last Festival that will happen in the east coast for a long time. The idea has for years been to grow BWAF into a global community event, and the time has come to move on that idea. Beginning August 2011, plans, venue scouting and negotiations for a BWAF on the west coast transpired. However, it soon became evident that it would take more time to produce a BWAF in the west coast in time for 2012. In the interim, the director began a major life-changing endeavor which required the temporary pausing of several projects, including organizing the next BWAF actual Festival. Therefore, plans are on hiatus at this time for producing a Festival until further notice. What is in effect is archiving, uploading to our YouTube channel, and otherwise distributing the many promotional materials we've collected since our inception in 2003. We thank everyone who has ever been a part or otherwise supported BWAF's efforts in and near Philadelphia, and we greatly look forward to travelling the world with this wonderful event when the time is right. At this time, we are unable to field any questions or correspondence regarding collaborations or showcasing artists, vendors, and the like, until announcements are made regarding the production of an actual Festival. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter, and for keeping your eyes peeled for the continued growth progress and transformation of this wonderful community cultural arts effort! 3) PARTNERSHIP WITH MOONSTONE From 2003 to 2007, BWAF operated as a for-profit project of Cassendre Xavier Enterprises. From February 2007 to December 2010, BWAF operated as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization as a member of the New Beginnings Nonprofit Incubator of Resources for Human Development. In June 2011, BWAF officially joined ranks with Philadelphia's legendary community cultural arts and education nonprofit Moonstone, although Moonstone/Robin's Books had been the venue of many CX Enterprises events since 2002. BWAF is honored to be part of this institution, known for its work in blending multi-cultures and community through the arts and education since 1973. Partnered with Moonstone, BWAF is once again operating as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. To learn more about Moonstone, please visit http://www.moonstoneartscenter.org/. 4) DONATIONS & SPONSORSHIP BWAF operates as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization under the fiscal sponsorship of Moonstone. All donations, which support the on-going efforts of the BWAF, including archiving and planning of future events, are fully tax-deductible. Donations of checks and money orders can be made payable to: Moonstone-BWAF, and mailed to: Black Women’s Arts Festival PO Box 30204 Philadelphia, PA 19103-8204 USA Electronic donations can be made via Paypal at http://BWAFphilly.homestead.com. For more information and social/community/professional networking links to BWAF, as well as to read archived issues of the Black Women's Arts Festival Newsletter, please visit our website at http://bwafphilly.homestead.com. (Please note we have allowed the domain name of BWAFphilly.org to expire as we are no longer primarily basing our Festival events in Philadelphia. In time, BWAF websites and domains will reflect current activities.) Thank you for your interest in the Black Women’s Arts Festival. We look forward to sending out an update again soon! Black Women’s Arts Festival Newsletter 02 Sepember 2012 - © Copyright 2012 by the Black Women's Arts Festival. All rights reserved. Visit http://bwafphilly.homestead.com