Local visual and musical artists will gather to celebrate International Women’s Day during “Art I a Woman” March 7 at Broadway United Methodist Church.
The event occurs the day before International Women’s Day, and organizer Vickie Daniel wanted to help the community celebrate women for the whole weekend. Broadway United Methodist Church member and chairperson Deb Shoffner will focus on women during a sermon on International Women’s Day on March 8.
“I want people to celebrate the equality of women,” Daniel said. “And to up the ante and the belief that women are just as capable of achieving, and for people to celebrate and say ‘thank you for being a woman … and doing everything you do, which is a lot.’”
International Women’s Day began in 1910 after Clara Zetkin, a German revolutionary, proposed that March 8 be designated to celebrate working women at that year’s International Socialist Women’s Conference. While it has been celebrated every year since 1910, the movement gained traction in 1975 after the United Nations recognized it as a holiday.
To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, visitors to Broadway United can see paintings, pottery and other visual arts as well as listen to live musical performances from artists from the church, along with creators from around the community.
Daniel, a jazz musician, had a very specific reason for choosing art as a platform for the international holiday: unity.
“Art crosses so many boundaries that other things do not,” she said. “It transcends all of our ‘isms,’ and it binds us together. Art humanizes us and makes us more sensitive to each other’s plight.”
Contact staff writer Breanna Cooper at 317-762-7848. Follow her on Twitter @BreannaNCooper.
