West Hollywood City Encourages Community Participation in the 2021 V-Day Campaign - VOICES

Press release from the City of West Hollywood:

December 28, 2020

Note: The deadline for submissions has been extended to February 14, 2021 from its original deadline of December 31, 2020!

In anticipation of the 22nd Anniversary of V‐Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls (cisgender and transgender), those who hold fluid identities, non-binary people, girls and the planet, the City of West Hollywood is encouraging the community to participate and support VOICES.

Recently V (formerly Eve Ensler), founder of V-Day, announced that in 2021 The Vagina Monologues will not be performed as part of V’s annual global V-Day awareness campaign. V-Day will instead focus on the creation of VOICES, a new piece curated by poet and organizer Aja Monet, who is inviting submissions of poems, monologues, and songs from Black women around the world that will be assembled into a V-Day performance piece anticipated for Fall 2021. The submission deadline for VOICES is February 14, 2021. For more information and to apply, visit voices.vday.org.

VOICES is a new interdisciplinary performance arts project and campaign grounded in Black women’s stories by V-Day to unify the vision of ending violence against women: cis women, trans women, and non-binary people across the African Continent and African Diaspora.

“The City of West Hollywood has supported the mission of the V-Day movement for many years in many ways, including sponsoring local productions of The Vagina Monologues, and hosting annual community events for the One Billion Rising Campaign, which is the biggest mass action to end violence against women in history,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath. “A hard truth remains: the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women globally will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. I encourage the West Hollywood community to take action and participate in the V-Day VOICES project and I look forward to raising awareness in February for the V-Day global day of action, which aims to end violence against women and girls, once and for all.”

More than two decades ago, Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day bringing widespread attention to issues of harassment, rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery. Every year around the world, The Vagina Monologues is performed by local activists to raise awareness and funds for organizations supporting women. To date, these events have raised more than $120 million for grassroots anti-violence groups and safe houses worldwide.

During the month of February 2021, the City will once again commemorate V-Day with various activities urging community members to add their voices to the global effort to end violence against women (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence) via the hashtag #vday. Violence prevention and awareness information will also be highlighted including the City’s Only Yes Means Yes public awareness campaign about sexual assault, which promotes the important message of consent.

For more information about the City’s annual commemoration of V-Day, please contact City of West Hollywood Community Events Coordinator Larissa Fooks at (323) 848-6413 or lfooks@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

The City of West Hollywood has declared a local emergency in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Individuals are advised, at this time, to stay at home as much as possible and limit close interactions to those in your household. When in public for essential needs, community members should maintain your space with social (physical) distancing of at least six feet, and cover your face. Public Health officials recommend that everyone continue to follow physical distancing and infection control directives and wear a clean face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in in public. Additionally, people 65 years old or older and all people of any age with underlying health conditions should remain at home whenever possible; people in these categories should only leave their residences to seek medical care, exercise, or obtain food or other necessities.

West Hollywood City Hall is currently closed to the public and has suspended all in-person transactions. Most public City buildings and facilities remain closed. City Hall remains accessible for business and essential services with transactions to be conducted by phone (323) 848-6400 and via the City’s website at www.weho.org.

City of West Hollywood coronavirus updates are available at www.weho.org/coronavirus and the City encourages community members to follow @wehocity on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and turn on notifications. Sign up for news updates at www.weho.org/email and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org

This press release was produced by the City of West Hollywood. The views expressed here are the author’s own.