Here come the girls for Ladyfest
WOMEN: Ladyfest
GIRL power: somewhere along the line, the message got jumbled up and turned into a shallow ideal about drinking as much as the lads and earning enough money to buy expensive dresses.
This weekend, Ladyfest redresses the balance with a considered look at the contribution of women to both highbrow and popular culture with live events, theatre and heated debates scheduled for three days from November 7 to 9.
But it's not all chin-stroking chatter. Instead, the non-profit, grass roots, volunteer-led arts and music festival takes over the Zion Arts Centre to create a space for female artists and musicians to be seen and heard in an environment which is inclusive, individual and fun.
Fun side
We're more than 40 years on from the decade of bra burning and in the 80th anniversary year of universal suffrage in the UK. So in this post-gender discrimination era, why does Manchester need a Ladyfest?
Rachel Nieman, one of the organising committee, explains the basic reasons for having a festival of this type.
“Mainly we have it to be a great festival, with loads of great bands," she says.
"There’s the fun side of it, and there is also the serious side. Women artists are massively under represented in the arts, particularly in the major music festivals.”
The only previous Manchester Ladyfest, in 2003, is remembered fondly by many. It was quite an early Ladyfest by European standards (the very first was held in Olympia, Washington, in 2000), and remains memorable for its headliner: The Gossip, famously fronted by Beth Ditto.
Selection
This year, as well as a whole gamut of all female and female-fronted bands, the event is headlined by the recently reformed seminal punk group The Slits. But being a music festival is just one part of the Ladyfest offer.
Rachel says the organisers believe the festival's selection of workshops, covering women’s and gay issues, from bisexuality through to car maintenance and sexual health, are actually one of the most important parts of the calendar.
Although the festival is female focused, it is not exclusive. There are workshops on men and feminism, as well as trans-issues. Three members of the organising committee are male.
“Although obviously they are keen to keep the female focus, they are also keen to make it happen,” explains Rachel.
A key development in this year's festival is a visual art exhibition curated by Laura Robertson, a recent graduate of Salford’s Visual Art degree, called Charmeuse.
Challenging
Named after a delicate and feminine satin fabric, the show brings together the work of 13 promising sculptors, photographers, performers and film makers in what is likely to be one of the most challenging and diverse installations in Manchester this year.
Because Ladyfest is always organised by local committees, each one is different and tailored specifically to the needs of the community. Some might view the exclusion of male exhibitors as positive discrimination gone mad, but Laura says this enables the exhibition to escape being too issue driven.
It is simply, says Laura, "a group of women - female artists who are practising now, with strong ability - putting on a good exhibition".
Although some of the artists just seem to be glad of an opportunity to exhibit, others identify being part of an all-women exhibition as particularly positive.
'Collaboration'
Angela Tait, who has recently started an MA in Visual Arts at Salford, remarks: “I think there is an awful lot of collaboration between the artists and an awful lot of camaraderie.”
And Louise Woodcock, in the final year of Visual Arts at Salford, concludes: “ The fact that it is all women’s art exhibition means that there is a bit less of a macho ego in the atmosphere.”
Any expectations you may hold about an exclusively female exhibition - nestled inside the programme of an outspokenly feminist festival -are going to be wildly inaccurate. The art is selected on merit, and although some address presumptions about feminine art, most elude any such simplistic definition.
“I want people to come in and maybe not know that its all women,” adds Laura.
As for Ladyfest's return to the city, Rachel says that it and the city are a perfect fit.
“Manchester has got a fantastic history of a feminist and queer scene," she says. "So really we are just building on that. It just seems like a natural time to have this.”
Ladyfest is at the Zion Arts Centre from Friday, November 7 to Sunday, November 9. Visit www.ladyfestmanchester.com for a full downloadable schedule.
Published: Thu, 06 November, 2008
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