PMA Professors J. Ellen Gainor, Aoise Stratford, Kristen Warner, and Danielle Russo participated in the Smart is Strong Foundation spring conference on the theme of "Feminism in the Arts & Media," as part of International Women's Day.
J. Ellen Gainor and Aoise Stratford spoke on the topic of "Opportunities and Resources for Women in the Performing Arts," focusing on playwriting and dramaturgy. “Because the focus of the day's events was "Feminism in the Arts/Media Industries," said Gainor, “I spoke about the professions of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, along with the professional organizations for women working in these fields. I also highlighted a few professional theatre companies that center the work of women playwrights, especially those from earlier historical eras.”
“I shared resources for female identifying artists to help them foster community and develop new artistic work,” added Stratford. “I also talked about the data produced in the Sands report and the Dramatists Guild ‘Count’ that looked at disparity in theatre-making across gender, race, sexuality.”
Kristen Warner gave a talk called "Women Audiences Taste Matters" where she argued that “women audiences of film and television's taste in particular—be it racial, ethnic, gendered, sexual–should be more valued. Lady audiences are imagined to think only in one dimension reinforcing long-standing imaginations of women as uncritical and naive with pleasures that should be hidden, mocked, and shamed. So my talk was about encouraging women viewers to love what they watch without shame or judgment.”
Danielle Russo gave a presentation called “Embodied Research & Praxes: Lineages of Feminist Archival & Artivism.” The talk included “an emphasis on womxn dance and performance artists whose bodies of work exemplify the act of performance art as an influential model for social activism, civil disobedience, and community mobilization.”
As part of the sixth annual Northeast Intercollegiate International Women's Day Conference, the Smart is Strong Foundation collaborated with multiple universities across the Northeast to invite noted speakers to share their perspective and perseverance as females in education and industry.
