Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Countdown To Ladyfest Toronto 2007!

With less then three days til Ladyfest, I thought I'd post the press release here so everyone can take a look at what exactly's going on:
TORONTO - Ladyfest Toronto is a wide-ranging celebration of feminism
and the arts, taking place September 27th-30th in and around
Kensington Market. With four days of programming—by women, for
everyone—Ladyfest Toronto aims to reflect the varied experiences and
talents of women, while proving feminism can be fun. It's inspired by
a tradition of Ladyfests held worldwide since the first festival took
place in 2000 in Olympia, Washington, the birthplace of the riot grrrl
movement. Admission to individual events is on a sliding scale basis;
weekend passes are also available for $35 (youth passes $10) at Rotate
This, Soundscapes and Good For Her. Festival highlights include:

Kick-off Party: Taking place at the Tranzac on the 27th, it will
feature salsa dance, burlesque, spoken word and musical performances,
including a headlining slot by 2007 Polaris Prize nominee Julie
Doiron.

Concerts: There will be hip-hop by local artist Masia One and
Brooklyn's "queer-feminist, soul-sister co-conspiracy of acrobatic
poets," Climbing PoeTree (who have previously performed at Ladyfest
South in Texas and on HBO's Def Poetry Jam). D.C. dance-punks
Partyline (featuring Allison Wolfe, formerly of legendary riot grrrl
band Bratmobile) and Toronto acts like Cougar Party and Shitt Hottt
will be bringing the rock. On the softer side, there will be
experimental folkies The Weather Station and Laura Barrett—and that's
just a small sampling of the artists we have lined up.

Art: Maureen Da Silva and Tamiko Winter explore questions of
femininity and desire through, respectively, comic-inspired art and
photography. Lumi, a wandering performance piece inspired by Hans
Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen will hit the streets, bringing
winter to Toronto in September. Spoken word artists include dub poet
d-lishus and writer Vivian Meyer, who will read from her book Bottom
Bracket and lead a 'Sleuthing 101' session. Films will be shown over
two nights at the Brunswick Cinema—Friday features short films and a
retrospective of the films of Allyson Mitchell and Christina Zeidler's
Freeshow Seymour collective. Saturday we'll get down and dirty with
feminist smut films by Jesika Joy, Angela Phong and Jill Rosenberg and
a live burlesque performance. There will also be a craft fair on
Sunday, featuring the work of local artisans and crafters.

Workshops: Workshop leaders will create dialogue around many important
issues, with sessions like Fat Activism 101, Shameless Magazine's
Media Literacy Boot Camp , Young Women's Crash Course in Getting it On
(presented by Good For Her) and more.

About Ladyfest
Ladyfest Toronto is a grassroots, do-it-yourself community-based
organization that operates under a framework that is pro-feminist,
trans-inclusive, pro-diversity and anti-oppression. Ladyfest Toronto
2007 continues the tradition of breaking down barriers for women
artists and marks the first time since 2004 that the festival has
taken place in Toronto.

In the last seven years Ladyfests have been held in North and South
America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Canadian cities that have hosted
Ladyfests include Vancouver, Guelph, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa.

-30-

Media Contact:
Carly Beath
lftopress@gmail.com
647-868-5207

See you on the weekend!

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