Girl Fest aims to raise awareness about abuse
Advertiser Staff
With that in mind, the Safe Zone Foundation, is kicking off a year of consciousness-raising Girl Fest events with a night of multimedia arts and entertainment.
"Speak Out," featuring local spoken word, music, film and video, visual art, modern dance and hula practitioners, takes place tomorrow at Studio 1. Doors open at 8 p.m., with performances starting at 9 p.m. Admission is on a sliding scale (pay what you can), $7 to $20.
The Girl Fest project is headed by local filmmaker Kathryn Xian and Aquaria Salon owner Rebecca Long, from whose extensive network of contacts the performers were culled.
"All of the people involved have experienced or know someone very close who had experienced severe abuse," Xian said. "We were all sick of the climate of rising violence against girls and women. We wanted to do something to change the culture."
Xian and Long hope the event will convey positive messages about women, using various artistic media to engage the audience's minds and emotions.
"We wanted to do something in a way that makes people not afraid to hear beautiful, funny, sometimes sad words in an artistic way," Xian said.
While future events will likely include national and international artists and performers (Girl Fest is a national movement), the "Speak Out" event is primarily Hawai'i-bred.
For more information about "Speak Out" and Girl Fest, call 945-0996.