Calling Ohio Artists to participate in SWAN Day Dayton

We need writers, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, actors, dancers, and more!

On March 31, 2012, artists and community members will gather together at the Auditorium in the Dayton Metro Library Main Branch to celebrate female artists in Dayton’s first SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day.

We are currently accepting proposals from artists who would like to participate in this inaugural event.

Proposals include but are not limited to:

A short film

Reading of an excerpt of a novel or essay

Poetry reading

Performance, staged reading, or reading of a play

Dance or movement pieces that can be done in limited space with boom box music

*          Please note that due to the fact that this event is held in a library auditorium and we do not have sound equipment, we unfortunately cannot accommodate bands or major musical performances.

TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL:

Please send a cover letter including:

            - Contact information

- Description of what you plan to perform

- Approximate running time of your piece

- Any technical needs for your piece and how you plan to address them within our technical limitations

- Information about yourself and other artists involved in your project (Do not be discouraged if you have yet to build up much of an artistic resume. We are especially excited to partner with new artists and students.)

A perusal of the work you wish to perform (such as a script, writing sample, or link to video)

E-mail to SwanDayDayton@yahoo.com by February 15^th.

Filmmakers who cannot provide an internet link to their work sample should e-mail Stacey Lane at SwanDayDayton@yahoo.com to arrange to post-mail a DVD. 

FURTHER INFORMATION:

This is a “bring it yourself” showcase. We provide the venue and the publicity, but you are responsible for providing all elements of your project, including but not limited to readers, actors, costumes, props, and rehearsal space. Artists must arrive on March 31^st with projects “production ready”. Please do not send scripts or writing samples if you are unable to provide people to read or perform your piece.

Selected artists are required to meet at 12:30pm on March 31^st to do a rehearsal of the production, prior to the 3:00 pm show. The day of March 31^st is the only time commitment to be involved in this showcase.

The proposed project must be created by women or feature women in a major way. However, SWAN Day Dayton values gender equality and recognizes the importance of female and male artists working together to create.  Pieces including male collaborators are absolutely fine to submit.

Projects must be under 20 minutes, with preference given to pieces 10 minutes or less.

The stage (which is more of a slightly elevated platform) is about 50 ft by 15 ft.  There is no wing space or fly space. There is no room for set pieces other than a table and chairs (provided) and pieces that can easily be carried on and off by a performer.

Artists must be able to set up and clear their performances in very little time.

We are able to show films from DVDs or project PowerPoint presentations. 

No technical elements will be provided, other than a simple “Lights up. Lights down”. No sound or light boards are available. If sound cues or a song are necessary to your piece, we will have a basic personal CD player on hand, but you must provide the person who hits play and stop at the appropriate times. 

A novelist, poet, or essayist does not have to read her own work, but she is responsible for providing someone who will.

Plays may be done as readings, staged readings, or fully-realized productions.

The show is free and open to the public.

Please note that while this is an open call, some artists and companies with whom we have a previous working relationship have already been asked to participate in this inaugural event.

VENUE INFORMATION:

Swan Day Dayton       Saturday March 31, 2012                   3:00 pm

Dayton Metro Library Main Branch

Auditorium on Second Floor

215 E. Third St.

Dayton, Ohio 45402

TIME LINE:

Deadline for Proposals             Feb. 15, 2012

Selected Artists Announced     March 1, 2012

Mandatory Rehearsal              March 31, 2012  12:30 pm

Showcase                               March 31, 2012   3:00 pm

ABOUT SWAN DAY:

SWAN Day/Support Women Artists Now Day is a new international holiday that celebrates women artists.  It is an annual event taking place on the last Saturday of March (Women’s History Month) and the surrounding weeks. The official date of the Fifth International SWAN Day is Saturday, March 31, 2012.

By focusing attention on the work of women artists, SWAN Day helps people imagine what the world might be like if women’s art and perspectives were fully integrated into all of our lives.

People celebrate this new holiday by participating in SWAN Day events and by making donations to their favorite women artists. The long term goal of SWAN Day is to inspire communities around the world to find new ways to recognize and support women artists as a basic element of civic planning.

There have been over 700 SWAN Day events in 21 countries in the first four years of SWAN Day. has been officially recognized by the mayors of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and several other cities. Women artists at all levels have been proud to participate in SWAN Day.  Isabel Allende, the award-winning novelist; Sandra Oh, a star of the hit television show ER and an acclaimed stage actress; and Famke Janssen, star of the X-Men movies, have all done online video endorsements of SWAN Day.

SWAN Day is facilitated by WomenArts (www.womenarts.org), a non-profit arts service organization which is dedicated to helping women artists get the resources they need to do their creative work.  Over the past decade WomenArts has raised over $4 million and built a website at www.womenarts.org that offers networking, fundraising and advocacy services to over 500,000 visitors a year.

To learn more about this international grassroots movement, please visit:

www.womenarts.org/swan/index.htm

Producer          Stacey Lane
Co-Producer    Dara Cosby
Co-Producer    Alex Mangen

ABOUT STACEY LANE:

Playwright Stacey Lane’s scripts have been seen at over two hundred fifty theatres from coast to coast in the U.S., as well as in Canada, England, and Australia and are published with Playscripts, Inc., Smith and Kraus, Manhattan Theatre Source, San Luis Obispo Little Theatre, Freshwater, and Scene4 Magazine.  She is the recipient of the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District’s Literary Artist Fellowship, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency Grant, a “Charlie Award”, and a nominee for “Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script of a Play or Book of a Musical” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival.  Stacey has received script commissions from Women Playwrights’ Initiative, Classika Theatre, Human Race Summer Stock Kids, the Mascot Organization, and Zoot Theatre Company for the Victoria Theatre’s Discovery Series and CityFolk. Stacey has also served professionally in the theatre as an actor, costume designer, teacher, stage manager, run crew, and box office. Working with the Mascot Organization, she organized and emceed the Greene Children’s Book Festival at the Greene Mall in Beavercreek, Ohio.

To learn more, please go to:

www.StaceyLaneInk.com

ABOUT DARA COSBY:

Dara Cosby is a graduate of Wright State University’s Motion Picture program.  She has written reviews for film and television. Some recent work has been as a casting assistant on the feature film, True Nature. Dara has also obtained a master’s degree in Community Counseling from University of Dayton, in hopes to use film and media to help others.

ABOUT ALEX MANGEN: 

Since earning a degree in Motion Picture Productions from Wright State University, Alex Mangen has worked on several feature films, music videos, television, and commercials.  He has written and directed sketches for the comedy group LeftofCenterComedy.com who’s sketches have been licensed by MTV, CW, and played at numerous film festivals including the Independent Comedy Festival at the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.   For his sketch comedy work he was awarded a grant from Culture Works for the Arts.  Alex is currently a Director of Film Studies at Stivers Schools for the Arts and is in pre-production for his next sketch comedy show.