Ladyfest Edinburgh

About me:

ART MUSIC LITERATURE DANCE COMEDY DISCUSSIONS WORKSHOPS.

Ladyfest is an idea. A community based, not-for-profit global celebration of women in the arts, culture and society.
The 1st Ladyfest festival was held in Olympia WA, USA in 2000 and since then loads of independently run festivals have been happening across the world. It has it's roots in riot grrrls and D.I.Y culture.

Our aims:
- to celebrate female creativity across all artforms
- to create a space to rejuvenate discussions about feminism and its relevance in society today
- to create an alternative space with events organised primarily by women
- to give the opportunity for women to come forward and put on events/workshops and redress the balance of male dominated arts/music festivals
- to work in partnership with already established groups in Edinburgh and to make Ladyfest accessible to all
- to raise money for local charities including Zero Tolerance.

In the main the project started out to get other women together in a public space to talk about feminism, art, music, politics and culture in general. From here the idea is to nurture a network of people and groups who will continue to work together on different projects and campaigns and offer support to one another and to new people who want to get involved.

Through workshops and events we aim to challenge all forms of stereotyping. We want to stimulate discussions and learn new skills. We want to motivate women to stand up and use their voices politically, creatively and in their everyday home and work situations.

Ladyfest Edinburgh is an open forum where people are invited to come along to our weekly meetings to talk, get to know one another and feel free in the space to discuss and work on ideas and projects of both mutual and personal interest. By simply providing the space many women, some already active in the arts and some within small local groups, have been given the impetus to share their passions and opinions, to raise awareness as well as being active.

We have an open and experimental ethic and we are keen to explore different ways of working collaboratively and democratically but still outwith the normal structural hierarchies. The future of the group will be built on our need to grasp this free space and continue making a visible women's culture. We want to work as a community to challenge all forms of oppression and add to the wealth of female voices and creativity past and present