November 2012
TOPICS:
Woman + Body, WCA Annual Conference in NYC, WCA International Caucus Annual Meeting, The Future of the International Caucus is In Your Hands, WCA Conference Volunteers Needed, UN CSW Conference, the I CAN WE CAN Project, Exhibition Invitation, WCA/IC Project Updates and Assistance Needed: WCA Wikipedia Article, Toronto, London, Activism Database
Woman + Body
Hye-Seong Tak Lee brought together some warm, generous and all-around fabulous women artists for this exhibition. Three immensely respected women artists from Seoul agreed to participate. Yun Suknam, installed one of her works from her To Be Lengthened series. I liken the photographs of Park Youngsook to those of Cindy Sherman. Ms. Park owns the small but important Trunk Gallery in Seoul. Jung Jungyeob installed beautiful silk panels on which she painted silhouettes of women in various forms of movement. Here is a simple video I shot of the show in Seoul. The head of the Korean-American Feminist Literary Association, the head of the Seoul International Women's Film Festival and the head of the Seoul City Museum - all women - shared encouraging and congratulatory comments.
We have garnered a lot of media attention in Korea. I want to thank Hye-Seong for bringing us into this collaboration and sticking with us through all of the challenges. Priscilla provided unflagging encouragement and guidance. Karen Gutfruend opened up her wealth of exhibition experience to me. Loretta Paraguassu edited the English portion of the catalog and Bonnie MacAlister and Bonita Tabakin volunteered to assist if needed. Participating artists Laurie Edison and Sheri Klein donated their works for Hye-Seong to use in promotion of the exhibition. As I have said multiple times, the learning curve was steep with this exhibition, but we have had laid some solid groundwork for future international events.
If there are copies of the Woman + Body catalog remainig after the participating artists receive the copies they ordered, I will make them available for sale to others either through me or at the WCA Annual Conference.
WCA Annual Conference, New York City, February 13-17, 2013
This is where ideas flow, connections are made, souls become inspired. Find more information about the conference, the Lifetime Achievement Awards Ceremony, Brunch with Luminaries, Chelsea Gallery Walk and registration at: http://www.nationalwca.org/applicants/raffle.php
WCA International Caucus Annual Meeting
The annual meeting for our International Caucus will be during the WCA Annual Conference. Please put it on your calendar if you are coming to conference. Thursday, February 14th, 9:30-10:45 a.m. at the American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. We will probably arrange another gathering for those who want to continue the conversation during a break in the conference schedule on Friday, February 15th.
The Future of the International Caucus is In Your Hands
Excitement and many ideas characterized the last annual meeting of the International Caucus in Los Angeles. We have accomplished much and we are growing. This next year, 2013, will be shaped by the International Caucus members who transfer their excitement into action. We will be looking at creating committees to support these ideas. How we develop as a caucus, what kinds of exhibitions we develop, which issues we take on will be determined by those members who commit to partnering in this growth and decision making. I must say that this commitment is not one way. Working on these projects increases our individual and collective skill sets – skills that can be transferred into other areas of our lives. Karen Gutfreund and I are writing an exhibition training manual that will assist us in developing these skills. So please consider creating some time for the International Caucus in 2013 and for the opportunity to grow yourselves as artists and members of your communities.
WCA Conference Volunteers Needed
The annual conference is run by WCA members – all volunteers. Please consider offering to help out in some way to make this conference meaningful and successful for all of us. Some volunteer spots that need filled include assisting with the Bound and Diaspora exhibitions, stuffing registration packets, helping with the Lifetime Achievement Awards and registering members for the conference. Please sign into Volunteer Spot to look at the options. More opportunities will be added as we get nearer to the conference.
2012 I CAN: Requiem for I Can’t
WCA is joining forces with 2012 President's Awardee Cathy Salser's A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) and Eve Ensler's One Billion Rising to draw attention to domestic violence. The I CAN WE CAN Solidarity Campaign is dedicated to building solidarity with the arts, social justice, academic, and feminist communities together with domestic violence survivors and the courageous women and men who work in the front lines on this issue. The February 14, 2013 Lifetime Achievement Awards falls on the same day as Ensler's One Billion Rising global action event. Do this simple thing: decorate your hand with the inspirational words "I CAN," take a photo of it with your phone or camera, and email the image to Brenda Oelbaum at [email protected]. WCA will show its solidarity with AWBW and One Billion Rising by displaying a mosaic of hands projected on the screen during the awards ceremony. So help us make a statement -- send your I CAN Hand Art to Brenda!
Exhibition Invitation: Women of All Colors
International Caucus member Sujata Tibrewala has invited our membership to enter the global Women of All Colors exhibition at the Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center. Deadline is January 12, 2013. Click here for more information: Women of All Colors
More International Caucus Projects and Assistance Needed
WCA Wikipedia article: Thank You Loretta Paraguassu and Bonnie MacAllister for volunteering to help out with this project. I am creating the outline and will have it ready for them in early 2013.
Toronto: Though Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I have developed some good concepts for an exhibition between Toronto and WCA International Caucus artists, we need IC members to help us identify a group of women or a gallery in Toronto to work with us there by early 2013 for a potential collaboration in 2014. Several of you have said you may have some connections, however thin, to Toronto. Please follow up on them and let us know if you have some leads. I would be happy to talk with anyone you discover.
London: Elizabeth Sowell-Zak made some connections in London in October. We will have more information to share about possibilities there soon.
WCA Art & Activism Database: In 2013, I need one of our members to take on WCA’s annual application for UN NGO status as well as for grant writing. This person would periodically read WCA newsletters and the WCA Facebook page to look for applicable projects (this year includes the Honoring Women’s Rights Conference & Exhibition, the Ragdoll Project, Petroleum Paradox Exhibition, Gender Games, 40 Watts: Illuminating Herstory, Reusing Our Resources), contact the organizers to get the documentation (website addresses, a photo or two, press articles, numbers in attendance, etc.) and input the documentation into our PBWorks site. This person needs to be either familiar with PBWorks or comfortable learning how to navigate around it, setting up files, and populating the files with the documentation (mostly via copy and paste). The documentation will be used to complete the UN NGO annual application with my assistance. This job involves about 20-30 hours of work each year (mostly in the fall) and needs to be completed by December of each year. This job will include writing the NGO application for 2014. I currently do this and find it interesting to learn more about these fascinating projects.
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August 2012
TOPICS:
Woman + Body, WCA Conference, Committees, Fundraising, Sex Trafficking/UN Art Event, London Exhibition,Toronto Exhibition
What a busy year so far! It is good to step back and see how far we have come since our first meeting in February. Thank you all for your encouragement and assistance. I apologize if you have volunteered for something and I have not followed up. Please know that I am grateful for your offers. After we get Woman + Body settled, I will have more time to devote to talking with each of you about the jobs for which you volunteered.
Please look particularly at the IDEAS/HELP NEEDED sections below.
NEWS
WOMAN + BODY
LOTS of lessons learned during the development of our first international exhibition. Our future exhibitions will be all the better and have more opportunity for artists because of these lessons. Dr. Tanya Augsburg has completed her juror work. Bonita Tabakin is assisting with gathering all the artist information for the catalog, which the Gwangju Cultural Foundation has decided to design and print in Korea. Bonnie MacAlister and Loretta Paraguassu have offered to edit the English sections of the catalog. Priscilla Otani and I have chosen to pay our own way so that WCA has representatives at the openings of the exhibit in Seoul (me) and Gwangju (Priscilla) – more opportunity to learn. Congratulations to those whose works were accepted into this unique opportunity.
WE ARE NOW A FULL-FLEDGED WCA CAUCUS!
Which means we have stronger credentials with the WCA board, which means…our ideas will be given more consideration. There was discussion at the summer board meeting about how our caucus is adding excitement and energy to the organization and attracting more members for WCA.
2013 WCA New York Conference- February 13-17
IDEAS NEEDED: Meeting Space
Planning time. Our International Caucus will have at least one meeting during the conference – one official annual meeting and possibly another over coffee for more idea sharing. Space at the Hilton (102 W. 57th St.) is extremely limited. We need to look at finding possible meeting spaces nearby, preferably, of course for no cost, but certainly low cost. A meeting room at a restaurant where we guarantee that each member buys tea/coffee/snack? A bar that is normally closed for business during the day, but will let us in during their off hours? Other ideas?
International Caucus Committees
IDEAS/HELP NEEDED
Since we are now a large caucus, several of you have suggested that we create some committees to facilitate our work. Publicity to help with catalogs (editing, design) and press. Fundraising. Exhibitions.
Let’s develop these ideas; let me know if you are interested in any of them. We can formalize committees at our annual meeting at the WCA conference in February.
Fundraising
IDEAS NEEDED: Board funding
As with other responsible non-profits determined to survive in the current economic climate, the WCA board is reviewing practices and considering business models for success. A common concern among the board members is the liquidity of funds at the national level – making sure money is available to pay out when it is needed and/or promised. Within this topic, the board is beginning a discussion about terms for loans to caucuses. At this time, the national WCA does not have enough funding to fund caucus projects – other than small start up amounts, but it can consider giving loans to caucuses. Sample questions: If the board loans a caucus money to contract a gallery or cover other early exhibition costs, what happens if the exhibition does not bring in enough money to repay the loan? If the exhibition is financially a huge success and makes money, would the WCA board be given a portion of the net profit as “interest” on the loan? (As it stands, each caucus has a line item in the WCA budget in which to put excess funds and from which to make payments). Do you have thoughts/suggestions to add to this discussion?
AUCTION SITE
The WCA Board approved an auction site to be put on the WCA website. I do not know the details yet. We could put art on the site, publicize it and if our art sold, the money would be put into our WCA account for future projects.
Future Exhibitions
SEX TRAFFICKING/COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN CONFERENCE, March 4-15, 2013
Discussions have begun to create an event/performance art piece/protest art during the CSW 57 Conference at the United Nations in March. Joanna Fulginitti, of the WCA Philadelphia Caucus and director of the Ragdoll Project, and I excited about the idea of lending the Ragdoll Project experience to bringing attention to media involvement in promoting sex trafficking, in particular Back Page of NYC. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is also interested in being involved. The WCA Board has approved this project and is willing to lend us $300 to cover costs (printing of materials, shipping of the dolls, etc.). We are looking at ways raise some funds. Here is a link to CATW info http://www.catwinternational.org/
I will be talking soon with CATW representatives.
HELP NEEDED: Sex Trafficking Event
We need some IC members who are willing to work on this project in the following ways: 1) to pencil in the dates of the CSW 57 Conference into their calendars and be able to participate in the events we plan, 2) to work with me in the planning process and eventually be the women to coordinate the local tasks, 3)
LONDON
Elizabeth Sowell-Zak has begun talking with contacts in London about an exhibition there! We did not have enough information to have the WCA board approve this project during their summer board meeting, but the board is willing to consider it between sessions (a very unusual concession) if we develop it further.
HELP NEEDED: London
Elizabeth will need assistance as this idea is developed further. If you have connections in London and/or are willing to help with research, please let her or me know.
TORONTO
Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I have had several conversations with Katy McCormick, an art professor at Ryerson University there, who has helped us understand the scene. We have also developed ideas for focus and construct of an exhibition to be held both in Toronto and in NYC.
HELP NEEDED: Toronto
If any of you know of women artists or artist groups in Toronto, we need to develop an organizational group there before we can move this idea forward.
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May 2012
WOMAN + BODY
For Info, click here: Women + Body FAQs
Assistance Needed: Several of you have offered your assistance and I THANK YOU in advance. Here are some areas in which I could use some help:
Catalog: We will be using lulu.com for setting up the print-on-demand catalogs for this exhibition, and most likely, future ones. I need 1-2 IC members to volunteer to look into this website, figure out how to use it, look at template options, and be willing to input photos/artist statements/art work descriptions that will come from the entrythingy submissions beginning in early August.
Troubleshooting submissions: Before Tanya (our juror) receives the submissions for consideration, I may need someone to help run down any missing information from applicants. If necessary, this would be in July and early August.
Shipping facilitation: 1) assist other WCA members with their shipping questions using your own experience and/or the info I have collected on our website
Notification follow up: Each artist accepted into this exhibition will be required to respond with an acknowledgement/agreement to participate before we can include her artwork in the catalog and promotions. I will need someone to make calls to the few artists, if any, who do not respond by the deadline.
Call for Art fix: Entries are starting to come in! I found out that my first effort at putting out a Call for Art on entrythingy.com was almost right – up until the submission button at the end of the process. We will have that figured out ASAP.
WCA Members Only: To clarify, we may have an international exhibition just for International Caucus members in the future, but the Call for Art for Women + Body is open to all current WCA members (not just International Caucus members) and self-identified women who join WCA by July 1st. There will be, of course, Korean women artists that Hye-Seong will pull together for that side of the exhibition. Hye-Seong also chose a few WCA works ahead of time for her promotional efforts. The rest will be juried in by Tanya Augsburg.
Framing Art in Korea: I asked Hye-Seong about the possibility of sending canvases to South Korea and having them framed there. She will look into finding a woodworker to make frames, but, at this point, I would encourage applicants to not rely on this option. Would there be a take-a-part frame that could be shipped with the rolled canvas? With installation instructions?
Shipping to Korea: We took the advice of several of you and made shipping the responsibility of the artist. We hope that in the future we may be able to help subsidize shipping costs more, but without the time frame to get funding, we just couldn’t make it work this time. I have put shipping advice on our website, both under Woman + Body FAQs and under the blog post on that topic. Please add any additional advice you may have to the blog so we can make this first experience as easy as possible for our members.
TORONTO
Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I are continuing to research the possibility of collaboration with artists in Toronto. Katy McCormick, a professor in the Department of Image Art at Ryerson University in Toronto, has provided us with some initial perspective of possibilities and the art scene in Toronto. We will be pulling together a one-page synopsis of this initial information to use as we look further into connections with galleries in Toronto and the US (most likely NYC), embassies, etc. The earliest we would have some kind of event would be fall of 2013 and possibly something more extensive later on.
Joyce Ellen has gratefully stepped up to be the point person, the liaison between this project and the rest of the caucus and WCA, but she needs assistance as we progress. Please contact her (or through me) if you would like to help. Initially this might mean staying informed in an inner planning circle and/or helping out with some research including grant options, grantwriting and/or developing other fundraising options. Later it might mean working on promotions, catalog development, etc. Though having a small work force was necessary Woman + Body (being our initial effort) it was also rather brutal. Our IC members have put forth some very interesting suggestions for future collaborations with women in other countries, but we cannot consider these without commitment from our IC members to do the groundwork and keep the balls turning. And, women who assist have the opportunity for professional development, credit in the catalog as being part of the committee and another line on their resume!
BUDGET/PROPOSAL CYCLE
Though we pushed through Woman + Body in several months, this was highly irregular for WCA and, while worth it, was just plain crazy-making. We also didn’t have time to fundraise, which meant we had to scale down our initial ideas considerably. The WCA Board meets each July to consider, among other things, budgets and proposals for that July through June of the next year. Therefore, I will be creating the International Caucus budget for July 2012-July 2013 in the next few weeks, which will include the idea for the Toronto collaboration in 2013-2014. An official budget/proposal would be presented to the board in July 2013 for this exhibition if we develop the idea that far by then. The International Caucus budget, as well as individual exhibition budgets, has to be budget neutral (costs equal income) or make money for our caucus for future caucus efforts. Bottom line: we should consider 1½ years to develop an exhibition idea, write grants or seek other fundraising options and actualize an exhibition.
EXHIBITION IDEAS BROUGHT FORTH
Our International Caucus members have come forth with ideas for and/or connections with several other countries/international cities: China (including Taiwan and near Tibet), Bangladesh, Dubai, Durban, Turkey, Vietnam, England, Israel, India, Russia, Greece, and the 2013 Gwangju Biennale. This is in addition to the idea to develop an international-themed, US-based exhibition that would then travel to other countries and the idea to collaborate with another WCA internal caucus. Very exciting! As I have said before, those ideas that get the most support/assistance from IC members will rise to the top of our priorities.WIKI ARTICLE FOR WCA
As we reach out to new groups of women, it is important that we have an easy-to-access resource about WCA and its fascinating and impressive history. WCA will have an updated website in the near future, but we also want to have an article on Wikipedia. I will be putting together a draft of this article by this fall and would like to have someone volunteer to help edit it, fact check, etc.
UN DPI/NGO CONFERENCE POSTPONED
This conference, which normally occurs early each September, has been postponed. I believe it has to do, in part, with the huge amount of effort that is being expended on the Rio+20 Conference next month. As soon as we are informed about the new dates and location, I will let you know and we can look at coming up with a side event or exhibition possibility. It does not look like it will be in NYC again until 2015.
US GALLERIES FOR INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITS
Who knows of galleries that may have an interest in working with us (WCA's IC) on an international collaboration? Or as a venue for an international-themed exhibit that we could travel abroad? Or other opportunities for women artists from other countries? US Galleries for International exhibits
UN 5th WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
Carol Richard Kaufman, who attended the 4th WCW in Beijing in 1995 with many other WCA members, and I had an inspiring conversation recently about her experience there and with the ensuing events back in the US. She has sent me materials from that conference as a start to building a history of WCA involvement in the 4WCW, which we will use to become more involved with the effort to get a UN sponsored 5WCW. More information to come! Anyone interested in talking with other fascinating WCA members who went to Beijing and helping with this history?
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April 2012
WE ARE ALREADY MAKING PROGRESS!
(see our project timeline on our website WCA IC Blog: Project Timeline
· Our membership is growing. We now have enough to apply for official WCA caucus status, which means we would have more input into WCA decision making. I will apply for this at the summer WCA board meeting. A reminder: if you know of a WCA member who wishes to join, she needs to add the International Caucus to her WCA website membership directory profile. (instructions on our International Caucus (IC) website WCA IC Website Members page. You can also see our list of current members on this page.)
· Loretta wrote an article about our first meeting in L.A. It is on our website home page.
· Joyce Ellen has agreed to spearhead the research for collaborating with women artists in Canada and has begun collecting gallery information. Stacey and Bonita have indicated that they would help.
· Stacey and Bonita have also agreed to help out with the Korean exhibitions if/when we get the go ahead
· Margaret, Alley, Stacey and Ikie have said they will explore opportunities with UN offices, embassies, state departments, etc.
· We have begun collecting information about international shipping options. Cherie has added her experience to that blog topic.
· Lee Lee, Stacey and Bonnie have said that they will find/research women's art organizations/collectives in other countries. Liz made a suggestion of one group that works on international issues. IC Website Blog: International women's groups
· Ikie will be traveling to a show in Vietnam and will spread the word about WCA and the International Caucus’ interest in connecting with women artists there.
· Chanel has offered some theme ideas for international exhibitions. IC Blog: International Exhibition ideas/themes
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED
· What skills can you offer to IC projects? Grantwriting? Writing articles? Writing press releases? Editing? Researching? Fundraising ideas? General publicity? Accounting/budget writing? Connections in other countries? Experience with exhibitions in other countries? Theme development? Can you read/speak/translate other languages? Anything else? We will be asking IC members to share such skills on specific projects. In the meantime, I would like to know what our collective skill set look like. Again, many hands, light work for all…
TORONTO/MONTREAL GALLERY SEARCH AND OTHER CONNECTIONS:
Joyce Ellen had the wonderful idea to develop collaborations with one of our closest international neighbors, Canada. She found that there are many galleries in Toronto. We need assistance in researching them, in finding out which ones might be interested in working with us on a collaboration of some sort. I have posted a link to a map of Toronto galleries from which you can choose names of galleries you will research. If each of us chose a few to research, we could finish this initial step in a couple of months, in time to try to work something out as early as fall of 2013 perhaps? Also on the post is a sample email you may use when contacting those galleries. Please post the galleries you choose on this blog topic so we do not overlap. WCA IC Blog: Toronto/Montreal
· Yueh-Meh Cheng has said she would be willing to give us some background on and ideas on how to connect to the art worlds in Taiwan and Beijing. We just need someone to contact her, initiate a conversation and report back a synopsis of her ideas to our caucus. Yueh-Meh’s contact info is in the WCA website’s member directory. Or you can contact me and I will give it to you. Any takers?
· WCA’s internal caucuses (ours, JWAN, Eco and Young Women’s) are not funded through WCA. We are each responsible for fundraising to cover our expenses for exhibitions, events, etc. Yes, we have a blog started on this topic also WCA IC Blog: Fundraising Elizabeth has emphasized the importance of fundraising and is willing to discuss it with other IC members who wish to do some research. And, yes, please put a synopsis of this research on this blog post. Do you get the idea that this blog will become our collective brain? J
· I am sure we would all love to exhibit our work abroad, but do be fair, we should also offer opportunities for women artists in other countries to exhibit here. Who knows of U.S. galleries that may be interested in working with WCA IC on a collaboration with international women artists? Are there other opportunities that we could offer women artists from other countries? WCA IC Blog: US Galleries/Opportunities
· Ideas for a virtual meeting? How can we connect as a whole, or at least as a majority of our International Caucus membership, more frequently? I think Skype has a maximum of 10 callers at a time, eh? An email with “respond to all” might get out of hand? Can we make the blog more active? Conference calls on FreeConferenceCall.com?
· Rachel has suggested that we have an international themed show in the U.S. that could then travel. Who all has ideas for international themes? Anything is game at this point, just add it to the appropriate blog. WCA IC Blog: International Exhibition Ideas/Themes
· If you would like to help out on some of the projects that have been already started, just contact me or one of the IC members listed with the project.
TOPICS:
Woman + Body, WCA Annual Conference in NYC, WCA International Caucus Annual Meeting, The Future of the International Caucus is In Your Hands, WCA Conference Volunteers Needed, UN CSW Conference, the I CAN WE CAN Project, Exhibition Invitation, WCA/IC Project Updates and Assistance Needed: WCA Wikipedia Article, Toronto, London, Activism Database
Woman + Body
Hye-Seong Tak Lee brought together some warm, generous and all-around fabulous women artists for this exhibition. Three immensely respected women artists from Seoul agreed to participate. Yun Suknam, installed one of her works from her To Be Lengthened series. I liken the photographs of Park Youngsook to those of Cindy Sherman. Ms. Park owns the small but important Trunk Gallery in Seoul. Jung Jungyeob installed beautiful silk panels on which she painted silhouettes of women in various forms of movement. Here is a simple video I shot of the show in Seoul. The head of the Korean-American Feminist Literary Association, the head of the Seoul International Women's Film Festival and the head of the Seoul City Museum - all women - shared encouraging and congratulatory comments.
We have garnered a lot of media attention in Korea. I want to thank Hye-Seong for bringing us into this collaboration and sticking with us through all of the challenges. Priscilla provided unflagging encouragement and guidance. Karen Gutfruend opened up her wealth of exhibition experience to me. Loretta Paraguassu edited the English portion of the catalog and Bonnie MacAlister and Bonita Tabakin volunteered to assist if needed. Participating artists Laurie Edison and Sheri Klein donated their works for Hye-Seong to use in promotion of the exhibition. As I have said multiple times, the learning curve was steep with this exhibition, but we have had laid some solid groundwork for future international events.
If there are copies of the Woman + Body catalog remainig after the participating artists receive the copies they ordered, I will make them available for sale to others either through me or at the WCA Annual Conference.
WCA Annual Conference, New York City, February 13-17, 2013
This is where ideas flow, connections are made, souls become inspired. Find more information about the conference, the Lifetime Achievement Awards Ceremony, Brunch with Luminaries, Chelsea Gallery Walk and registration at: http://www.nationalwca.org/applicants/raffle.php
WCA International Caucus Annual Meeting
The annual meeting for our International Caucus will be during the WCA Annual Conference. Please put it on your calendar if you are coming to conference. Thursday, February 14th, 9:30-10:45 a.m. at the American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. We will probably arrange another gathering for those who want to continue the conversation during a break in the conference schedule on Friday, February 15th.
The Future of the International Caucus is In Your Hands
Excitement and many ideas characterized the last annual meeting of the International Caucus in Los Angeles. We have accomplished much and we are growing. This next year, 2013, will be shaped by the International Caucus members who transfer their excitement into action. We will be looking at creating committees to support these ideas. How we develop as a caucus, what kinds of exhibitions we develop, which issues we take on will be determined by those members who commit to partnering in this growth and decision making. I must say that this commitment is not one way. Working on these projects increases our individual and collective skill sets – skills that can be transferred into other areas of our lives. Karen Gutfreund and I are writing an exhibition training manual that will assist us in developing these skills. So please consider creating some time for the International Caucus in 2013 and for the opportunity to grow yourselves as artists and members of your communities.
WCA Conference Volunteers Needed
The annual conference is run by WCA members – all volunteers. Please consider offering to help out in some way to make this conference meaningful and successful for all of us. Some volunteer spots that need filled include assisting with the Bound and Diaspora exhibitions, stuffing registration packets, helping with the Lifetime Achievement Awards and registering members for the conference. Please sign into Volunteer Spot to look at the options. More opportunities will be added as we get nearer to the conference.
2012 I CAN: Requiem for I Can’t
WCA is joining forces with 2012 President's Awardee Cathy Salser's A Window Between Worlds (AWBW) and Eve Ensler's One Billion Rising to draw attention to domestic violence. The I CAN WE CAN Solidarity Campaign is dedicated to building solidarity with the arts, social justice, academic, and feminist communities together with domestic violence survivors and the courageous women and men who work in the front lines on this issue. The February 14, 2013 Lifetime Achievement Awards falls on the same day as Ensler's One Billion Rising global action event. Do this simple thing: decorate your hand with the inspirational words "I CAN," take a photo of it with your phone or camera, and email the image to Brenda Oelbaum at [email protected]. WCA will show its solidarity with AWBW and One Billion Rising by displaying a mosaic of hands projected on the screen during the awards ceremony. So help us make a statement -- send your I CAN Hand Art to Brenda!
Exhibition Invitation: Women of All Colors
International Caucus member Sujata Tibrewala has invited our membership to enter the global Women of All Colors exhibition at the Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center. Deadline is January 12, 2013. Click here for more information: Women of All Colors
More International Caucus Projects and Assistance Needed
WCA Wikipedia article: Thank You Loretta Paraguassu and Bonnie MacAllister for volunteering to help out with this project. I am creating the outline and will have it ready for them in early 2013.
Toronto: Though Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I have developed some good concepts for an exhibition between Toronto and WCA International Caucus artists, we need IC members to help us identify a group of women or a gallery in Toronto to work with us there by early 2013 for a potential collaboration in 2014. Several of you have said you may have some connections, however thin, to Toronto. Please follow up on them and let us know if you have some leads. I would be happy to talk with anyone you discover.
London: Elizabeth Sowell-Zak made some connections in London in October. We will have more information to share about possibilities there soon.
WCA Art & Activism Database: In 2013, I need one of our members to take on WCA’s annual application for UN NGO status as well as for grant writing. This person would periodically read WCA newsletters and the WCA Facebook page to look for applicable projects (this year includes the Honoring Women’s Rights Conference & Exhibition, the Ragdoll Project, Petroleum Paradox Exhibition, Gender Games, 40 Watts: Illuminating Herstory, Reusing Our Resources), contact the organizers to get the documentation (website addresses, a photo or two, press articles, numbers in attendance, etc.) and input the documentation into our PBWorks site. This person needs to be either familiar with PBWorks or comfortable learning how to navigate around it, setting up files, and populating the files with the documentation (mostly via copy and paste). The documentation will be used to complete the UN NGO annual application with my assistance. This job involves about 20-30 hours of work each year (mostly in the fall) and needs to be completed by December of each year. This job will include writing the NGO application for 2014. I currently do this and find it interesting to learn more about these fascinating projects.
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August 2012
TOPICS:
Woman + Body, WCA Conference, Committees, Fundraising, Sex Trafficking/UN Art Event, London Exhibition,Toronto Exhibition
What a busy year so far! It is good to step back and see how far we have come since our first meeting in February. Thank you all for your encouragement and assistance. I apologize if you have volunteered for something and I have not followed up. Please know that I am grateful for your offers. After we get Woman + Body settled, I will have more time to devote to talking with each of you about the jobs for which you volunteered.
Please look particularly at the IDEAS/HELP NEEDED sections below.
NEWS
WOMAN + BODY
LOTS of lessons learned during the development of our first international exhibition. Our future exhibitions will be all the better and have more opportunity for artists because of these lessons. Dr. Tanya Augsburg has completed her juror work. Bonita Tabakin is assisting with gathering all the artist information for the catalog, which the Gwangju Cultural Foundation has decided to design and print in Korea. Bonnie MacAlister and Loretta Paraguassu have offered to edit the English sections of the catalog. Priscilla Otani and I have chosen to pay our own way so that WCA has representatives at the openings of the exhibit in Seoul (me) and Gwangju (Priscilla) – more opportunity to learn. Congratulations to those whose works were accepted into this unique opportunity.
WE ARE NOW A FULL-FLEDGED WCA CAUCUS!
Which means we have stronger credentials with the WCA board, which means…our ideas will be given more consideration. There was discussion at the summer board meeting about how our caucus is adding excitement and energy to the organization and attracting more members for WCA.
2013 WCA New York Conference- February 13-17
IDEAS NEEDED: Meeting Space
Planning time. Our International Caucus will have at least one meeting during the conference – one official annual meeting and possibly another over coffee for more idea sharing. Space at the Hilton (102 W. 57th St.) is extremely limited. We need to look at finding possible meeting spaces nearby, preferably, of course for no cost, but certainly low cost. A meeting room at a restaurant where we guarantee that each member buys tea/coffee/snack? A bar that is normally closed for business during the day, but will let us in during their off hours? Other ideas?
International Caucus Committees
IDEAS/HELP NEEDED
Since we are now a large caucus, several of you have suggested that we create some committees to facilitate our work. Publicity to help with catalogs (editing, design) and press. Fundraising. Exhibitions.
Let’s develop these ideas; let me know if you are interested in any of them. We can formalize committees at our annual meeting at the WCA conference in February.
Fundraising
IDEAS NEEDED: Board funding
As with other responsible non-profits determined to survive in the current economic climate, the WCA board is reviewing practices and considering business models for success. A common concern among the board members is the liquidity of funds at the national level – making sure money is available to pay out when it is needed and/or promised. Within this topic, the board is beginning a discussion about terms for loans to caucuses. At this time, the national WCA does not have enough funding to fund caucus projects – other than small start up amounts, but it can consider giving loans to caucuses. Sample questions: If the board loans a caucus money to contract a gallery or cover other early exhibition costs, what happens if the exhibition does not bring in enough money to repay the loan? If the exhibition is financially a huge success and makes money, would the WCA board be given a portion of the net profit as “interest” on the loan? (As it stands, each caucus has a line item in the WCA budget in which to put excess funds and from which to make payments). Do you have thoughts/suggestions to add to this discussion?
AUCTION SITE
The WCA Board approved an auction site to be put on the WCA website. I do not know the details yet. We could put art on the site, publicize it and if our art sold, the money would be put into our WCA account for future projects.
Future Exhibitions
SEX TRAFFICKING/COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN CONFERENCE, March 4-15, 2013
Discussions have begun to create an event/performance art piece/protest art during the CSW 57 Conference at the United Nations in March. Joanna Fulginitti, of the WCA Philadelphia Caucus and director of the Ragdoll Project, and I excited about the idea of lending the Ragdoll Project experience to bringing attention to media involvement in promoting sex trafficking, in particular Back Page of NYC. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is also interested in being involved. The WCA Board has approved this project and is willing to lend us $300 to cover costs (printing of materials, shipping of the dolls, etc.). We are looking at ways raise some funds. Here is a link to CATW info http://www.catwinternational.org/
I will be talking soon with CATW representatives.
HELP NEEDED: Sex Trafficking Event
We need some IC members who are willing to work on this project in the following ways: 1) to pencil in the dates of the CSW 57 Conference into their calendars and be able to participate in the events we plan, 2) to work with me in the planning process and eventually be the women to coordinate the local tasks, 3)
LONDON
Elizabeth Sowell-Zak has begun talking with contacts in London about an exhibition there! We did not have enough information to have the WCA board approve this project during their summer board meeting, but the board is willing to consider it between sessions (a very unusual concession) if we develop it further.
HELP NEEDED: London
Elizabeth will need assistance as this idea is developed further. If you have connections in London and/or are willing to help with research, please let her or me know.
TORONTO
Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I have had several conversations with Katy McCormick, an art professor at Ryerson University there, who has helped us understand the scene. We have also developed ideas for focus and construct of an exhibition to be held both in Toronto and in NYC.
HELP NEEDED: Toronto
If any of you know of women artists or artist groups in Toronto, we need to develop an organizational group there before we can move this idea forward.
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May 2012
WOMAN + BODY
For Info, click here: Women + Body FAQs
Assistance Needed: Several of you have offered your assistance and I THANK YOU in advance. Here are some areas in which I could use some help:
Catalog: We will be using lulu.com for setting up the print-on-demand catalogs for this exhibition, and most likely, future ones. I need 1-2 IC members to volunteer to look into this website, figure out how to use it, look at template options, and be willing to input photos/artist statements/art work descriptions that will come from the entrythingy submissions beginning in early August.
Troubleshooting submissions: Before Tanya (our juror) receives the submissions for consideration, I may need someone to help run down any missing information from applicants. If necessary, this would be in July and early August.
Shipping facilitation: 1) assist other WCA members with their shipping questions using your own experience and/or the info I have collected on our website
Notification follow up: Each artist accepted into this exhibition will be required to respond with an acknowledgement/agreement to participate before we can include her artwork in the catalog and promotions. I will need someone to make calls to the few artists, if any, who do not respond by the deadline.
Call for Art fix: Entries are starting to come in! I found out that my first effort at putting out a Call for Art on entrythingy.com was almost right – up until the submission button at the end of the process. We will have that figured out ASAP.
WCA Members Only: To clarify, we may have an international exhibition just for International Caucus members in the future, but the Call for Art for Women + Body is open to all current WCA members (not just International Caucus members) and self-identified women who join WCA by July 1st. There will be, of course, Korean women artists that Hye-Seong will pull together for that side of the exhibition. Hye-Seong also chose a few WCA works ahead of time for her promotional efforts. The rest will be juried in by Tanya Augsburg.
Framing Art in Korea: I asked Hye-Seong about the possibility of sending canvases to South Korea and having them framed there. She will look into finding a woodworker to make frames, but, at this point, I would encourage applicants to not rely on this option. Would there be a take-a-part frame that could be shipped with the rolled canvas? With installation instructions?
Shipping to Korea: We took the advice of several of you and made shipping the responsibility of the artist. We hope that in the future we may be able to help subsidize shipping costs more, but without the time frame to get funding, we just couldn’t make it work this time. I have put shipping advice on our website, both under Woman + Body FAQs and under the blog post on that topic. Please add any additional advice you may have to the blog so we can make this first experience as easy as possible for our members.
TORONTO
Joyce Ellen Weinstein and I are continuing to research the possibility of collaboration with artists in Toronto. Katy McCormick, a professor in the Department of Image Art at Ryerson University in Toronto, has provided us with some initial perspective of possibilities and the art scene in Toronto. We will be pulling together a one-page synopsis of this initial information to use as we look further into connections with galleries in Toronto and the US (most likely NYC), embassies, etc. The earliest we would have some kind of event would be fall of 2013 and possibly something more extensive later on.
Joyce Ellen has gratefully stepped up to be the point person, the liaison between this project and the rest of the caucus and WCA, but she needs assistance as we progress. Please contact her (or through me) if you would like to help. Initially this might mean staying informed in an inner planning circle and/or helping out with some research including grant options, grantwriting and/or developing other fundraising options. Later it might mean working on promotions, catalog development, etc. Though having a small work force was necessary Woman + Body (being our initial effort) it was also rather brutal. Our IC members have put forth some very interesting suggestions for future collaborations with women in other countries, but we cannot consider these without commitment from our IC members to do the groundwork and keep the balls turning. And, women who assist have the opportunity for professional development, credit in the catalog as being part of the committee and another line on their resume!
BUDGET/PROPOSAL CYCLE
Though we pushed through Woman + Body in several months, this was highly irregular for WCA and, while worth it, was just plain crazy-making. We also didn’t have time to fundraise, which meant we had to scale down our initial ideas considerably. The WCA Board meets each July to consider, among other things, budgets and proposals for that July through June of the next year. Therefore, I will be creating the International Caucus budget for July 2012-July 2013 in the next few weeks, which will include the idea for the Toronto collaboration in 2013-2014. An official budget/proposal would be presented to the board in July 2013 for this exhibition if we develop the idea that far by then. The International Caucus budget, as well as individual exhibition budgets, has to be budget neutral (costs equal income) or make money for our caucus for future caucus efforts. Bottom line: we should consider 1½ years to develop an exhibition idea, write grants or seek other fundraising options and actualize an exhibition.
EXHIBITION IDEAS BROUGHT FORTH
Our International Caucus members have come forth with ideas for and/or connections with several other countries/international cities: China (including Taiwan and near Tibet), Bangladesh, Dubai, Durban, Turkey, Vietnam, England, Israel, India, Russia, Greece, and the 2013 Gwangju Biennale. This is in addition to the idea to develop an international-themed, US-based exhibition that would then travel to other countries and the idea to collaborate with another WCA internal caucus. Very exciting! As I have said before, those ideas that get the most support/assistance from IC members will rise to the top of our priorities.WIKI ARTICLE FOR WCA
As we reach out to new groups of women, it is important that we have an easy-to-access resource about WCA and its fascinating and impressive history. WCA will have an updated website in the near future, but we also want to have an article on Wikipedia. I will be putting together a draft of this article by this fall and would like to have someone volunteer to help edit it, fact check, etc.
UN DPI/NGO CONFERENCE POSTPONED
This conference, which normally occurs early each September, has been postponed. I believe it has to do, in part, with the huge amount of effort that is being expended on the Rio+20 Conference next month. As soon as we are informed about the new dates and location, I will let you know and we can look at coming up with a side event or exhibition possibility. It does not look like it will be in NYC again until 2015.
US GALLERIES FOR INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITS
Who knows of galleries that may have an interest in working with us (WCA's IC) on an international collaboration? Or as a venue for an international-themed exhibit that we could travel abroad? Or other opportunities for women artists from other countries? US Galleries for International exhibits
UN 5th WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
Carol Richard Kaufman, who attended the 4th WCW in Beijing in 1995 with many other WCA members, and I had an inspiring conversation recently about her experience there and with the ensuing events back in the US. She has sent me materials from that conference as a start to building a history of WCA involvement in the 4WCW, which we will use to become more involved with the effort to get a UN sponsored 5WCW. More information to come! Anyone interested in talking with other fascinating WCA members who went to Beijing and helping with this history?
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April 2012
WE ARE ALREADY MAKING PROGRESS!
(see our project timeline on our website WCA IC Blog: Project Timeline
· Our membership is growing. We now have enough to apply for official WCA caucus status, which means we would have more input into WCA decision making. I will apply for this at the summer WCA board meeting. A reminder: if you know of a WCA member who wishes to join, she needs to add the International Caucus to her WCA website membership directory profile. (instructions on our International Caucus (IC) website WCA IC Website Members page. You can also see our list of current members on this page.)
· Loretta wrote an article about our first meeting in L.A. It is on our website home page.
· Joyce Ellen has agreed to spearhead the research for collaborating with women artists in Canada and has begun collecting gallery information. Stacey and Bonita have indicated that they would help.
· Stacey and Bonita have also agreed to help out with the Korean exhibitions if/when we get the go ahead
· Margaret, Alley, Stacey and Ikie have said they will explore opportunities with UN offices, embassies, state departments, etc.
· We have begun collecting information about international shipping options. Cherie has added her experience to that blog topic.
· Lee Lee, Stacey and Bonnie have said that they will find/research women's art organizations/collectives in other countries. Liz made a suggestion of one group that works on international issues. IC Website Blog: International women's groups
· Ikie will be traveling to a show in Vietnam and will spread the word about WCA and the International Caucus’ interest in connecting with women artists there.
· Chanel has offered some theme ideas for international exhibitions. IC Blog: International Exhibition ideas/themes
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED
· What skills can you offer to IC projects? Grantwriting? Writing articles? Writing press releases? Editing? Researching? Fundraising ideas? General publicity? Accounting/budget writing? Connections in other countries? Experience with exhibitions in other countries? Theme development? Can you read/speak/translate other languages? Anything else? We will be asking IC members to share such skills on specific projects. In the meantime, I would like to know what our collective skill set look like. Again, many hands, light work for all…
TORONTO/MONTREAL GALLERY SEARCH AND OTHER CONNECTIONS:
Joyce Ellen had the wonderful idea to develop collaborations with one of our closest international neighbors, Canada. She found that there are many galleries in Toronto. We need assistance in researching them, in finding out which ones might be interested in working with us on a collaboration of some sort. I have posted a link to a map of Toronto galleries from which you can choose names of galleries you will research. If each of us chose a few to research, we could finish this initial step in a couple of months, in time to try to work something out as early as fall of 2013 perhaps? Also on the post is a sample email you may use when contacting those galleries. Please post the galleries you choose on this blog topic so we do not overlap. WCA IC Blog: Toronto/Montreal
· Yueh-Meh Cheng has said she would be willing to give us some background on and ideas on how to connect to the art worlds in Taiwan and Beijing. We just need someone to contact her, initiate a conversation and report back a synopsis of her ideas to our caucus. Yueh-Meh’s contact info is in the WCA website’s member directory. Or you can contact me and I will give it to you. Any takers?
· WCA’s internal caucuses (ours, JWAN, Eco and Young Women’s) are not funded through WCA. We are each responsible for fundraising to cover our expenses for exhibitions, events, etc. Yes, we have a blog started on this topic also WCA IC Blog: Fundraising Elizabeth has emphasized the importance of fundraising and is willing to discuss it with other IC members who wish to do some research. And, yes, please put a synopsis of this research on this blog post. Do you get the idea that this blog will become our collective brain? J
· I am sure we would all love to exhibit our work abroad, but do be fair, we should also offer opportunities for women artists in other countries to exhibit here. Who knows of U.S. galleries that may be interested in working with WCA IC on a collaboration with international women artists? Are there other opportunities that we could offer women artists from other countries? WCA IC Blog: US Galleries/Opportunities
· Ideas for a virtual meeting? How can we connect as a whole, or at least as a majority of our International Caucus membership, more frequently? I think Skype has a maximum of 10 callers at a time, eh? An email with “respond to all” might get out of hand? Can we make the blog more active? Conference calls on FreeConferenceCall.com?
· Rachel has suggested that we have an international themed show in the U.S. that could then travel. Who all has ideas for international themes? Anything is game at this point, just add it to the appropriate blog. WCA IC Blog: International Exhibition Ideas/Themes
· If you would like to help out on some of the projects that have been already started, just contact me or one of the IC members listed with the project.