Digital Archive

Women in the Arts Foundation

Entity type: Organization

Founded in 1971 by artists, writers and other art world professionals meeting in lower Manhattan during a time of great unrest and creative ferment, Women in the Arts quickly grew into a national organization. It incorporated in 1973 as Women in the Arts Foundation, Inc. (WIA). Throughout its history, WIA has proved to be adaptable and creative in its ongoing work to change outdated concepts and attitudes about women as professional artists.

"Where We At" Black Women Artists, Inc. (WWA)

Entity type: Organization

"Where We At" Black Women Artists, Inc. (WWA) was a collective of Black women artists affiliated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It included artists such as Dindga McCannon, Kay Brown, Faith Ringgold, Carol Blank, Jerri Crooks, Charlotte Kâ (Richardson), and Gylbert Coker. Where We At was formed in the spring of 1971, in the wake of an exhibition of the same name organized by 14 Black women artists at the Acts of Art Gallery in Greenwich Village. Themes such as the unity of the Black family, Black female independence and embodiment, Black male-female relationships, contemporary social conditions, and African traditions were central to the work of the WWA artists. The group was intended to serve as a source of empowerment for African-American women, providing a means for them to control their self-representation and to explore issues of Black women's sensibility and aesthetics. Like AfriCobra, a Chicago-based Black Arts group, the WWA was active in fostering art within the African-American community and using it as a tool of awareness and liberation. The group organized workshops in schools, jails and prisons, hospitals, and cultural centers, as well as art classes for youth in their communities.   This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.

Global Fund for Women

Entity type: Organization

Women Make Movies

Entity type: Organization

Women Make Movies (WMM) is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Liberation meetings in September 1969. They produced four films by 1973. Dougherty and Paige incorporated the organization in March 1972 as a community based workshop to teach film to everyday women. A distribution service was also begun as an earned income program. In the mid-1970s a membership was created that screened and distributed members' work. In the early 1980s focus shifted to concentrate on distribution of independent films by and about women. WMM also provides production assistance to women filmmakers. This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License.