“Feminism is for everybody.”
While we’d like to take credit for that simple yet powerful quote, we have to attribute it, rightfully, to Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name Bell Hooks. Famously, Hooks argued that patriarchal ideology brainwashes men to believe their domination of women is beneficial when it’s not.
Here on the East End, we’d like to think we’re a bit more progressive than that, and thanks to some of our most beloved Hamptons locales, we find that to be true, as plenty of spots are offering stimulating, interesting and downright fun activities throughout this month in honor of the fabulous females that make this world a better place.
More often than not, as history has taught us, it takes a woman to get things done. Here’s ways to celebrate and observe Women’s History Month throughout the Hamptons during March and beyond.
Southampton Arts Center (25 Jobs Lane, 631-283-0967) celebrates by honoring local female artists that consistently offer activities and workshops at the Jobs Lane locale all year long. This Friday, March 7, there’s a figure drawing workshop in the studio led by artist Linda Capello. Participants will be working from a live model and will explore techniques of line, mass, gesture, proportion and foreshortening. Dry mediums, such as soft vine charcoal, conte or graphite, and kneaded erasers, plus pads measuring 14-inches by 17-inches (or larger) are requested. Workshop runs from 1 to 3 p.m. Cost is $25, $20 for members. Register here. Next Thursday, March 13, join in at the studio space for a creative (and fun) paint and sip workshop with Deborah Acquino. Participants will get hands-on instruction on how to properly mix colors while creating individual art. The workshop is designed for all skill levels, ranging from beginner to experienced artists. Paints, brushes, canvases and drinks will all be provided by SAC. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and class starts at 6:30 p.m., sharp! $35, $30 for members. Get tickets here.
On Thursday, March 27, SAC and AIA Peconic (a Bridgehampton-based nonprofit that represents the interests of and provides services to over 200 architects) will join forces to recognize the contributions of women in architecture. SAC hosts a film and panel discussion on City Dreamers, a film about the changing urban environment and the four trailblazing women architects who have been observing, working and thinking about those changes for decades. Highlighting architects Phyllis Lambert, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, Denise Scott Brown, and landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, the film captures all four women’s extensive accomplishments in architecture, landscape development and city planning since the 1950s. The event kicks off with a networking opportunity beginning at 5:30 p.m., with the film beginning around 6 p.m. After the panel discussion, there’ll be another hour or so of networking. Moderated by Julie Hatfield, of Wright & Company Construction, the panel discussion will follow the film screening, starting around 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person, $15 for members.
Celebrate International Women’s Day (Saturday, March 8) at The Church (48 Madison St., Sag Harbor, 631-919-5342) as the organization hosts its first ever special shout out to all the inspiring work women from the local community, and beyond, have done this past year. Selected honorees include Rev. Cecily Broderick (from Christ Episcopal Church), Andrea Grover, Amy Kirwin and Melanie Crader (from Guild Hall), Marit Molin (Hamptons Community Outreach), Barbara Moss (from the League of Women Voters and the founder of the Women’s Film Preservation Fund), and Minerva Perez (from OLA). There’ll be a dance party for all ages, genders and backgrounds with drinks by Sagaponack Farm Distillery and music by DJ Henry Eau. Event runs from 6 to 9 p.m.; tickets are $15, $10 for members.
For the entire month, and into the middle of April, LTV Studios (75 Industrial Road, Wainscott 631-537-2777) will hold various events honoring women artists, leaders, musicians and writers. It probably comes as no surprise that some of the key people and founders of LTV are women from across the East End community who helped shaped the over 40-year-old public access station since its inception. Notable players include Frances Ann Cannon Dougherty, who according to a press release from the Wainscott-based studio, helped raise money for the facility early on; Diana Weir, longtime LTV board member; founder Jill Keefe; former executive director Morgan Vaughan; and a wide range of women producers and storytellers that have helped tell their respective East End stories, like archivist Genie Henderson, Holocaust survivor Judy Sleed, political activist Phyllis Italiano and art gallerist Elaine Benson.
“To study LTV’s history is to also study East Hampton women’s history,” says Chrissy Sampson, director of community engagement, in a press release from LTV. “This organization truly created, and continues to create, space and opportunities for women in media and the performing arts.”
Ingrid Griffith becomes Shirley Chisholm in her one-act show Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed and Unbowed presented by the Playwrights’ Theatre of East Hampton. (Photos courtesy of WordHampton)
This Saturday, LTV and East End Jazz present the Women in Jazz All-Star Band, a special concert featuring a line-up of female musicians performing the works of legendary female jazz composers and performers. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and there’ll be café table reserved seating available for $50 per person (includes a drink ticket). Get tickets here.
Next week, on Friday, March 14, the Playwrights’ Theatre of East Hampton presents “Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed and Unbowed,” the immersive and interactive one-woman show by New York City actor Ingrid Griffith. The show follows the life and times of the late American politician and social justice activist Shirley Chisholm who in 1968 became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Showtimes next week are at 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, free for students and there’ll be VIP café table seating available for $50. Save your spot here. On Sunday, March 16, all are welcome to LTV’s World Voice Series, presented in association with Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, for a concert performance by the world-renowned Isle of Klezbos. The New York City-based, all women band plays traditional Yiddish music with a neo-folkloric twist that ranges from ethereal to rambunctious. The band will be joined by special guest trombonist Reut Regev. Sunday’s show starts at 4 p.m. and tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door, $20 for students, and VIP café seating is available for $60 per person.
Later this month and continuing into mid-April the three-part film series “Women Rising: Stories and Strength of Change,” curated by director and producer Annette Danto, is at LTV, with a different theme for each session that celebrates the resilience, courage and determination of women both in front and behind the camera. On Friday, March 28, it’s Dindigul Diaries (directed by Danto), a film that follows four women living in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and how the double burden of household responsibilities and income-generating work takes a toll on their daily lives. On Friday, April 4, enjoy Gabrielle Lansner’s I Am Not Ok and Arden Teresa Lewis’s Leveling Lincoln (a 2024 Daytime Emmy winner) as themes of race and segregation are explored. Finally, on Friday, April 11, the series concludes with the theme of vulnerability, specifically with children and climate change, as producer Gillian Gordon’s Footsteps on the Wind and director/producer Mirra Bank’s No Fear, No Favor are screened. The screenings all start at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a special Q&A session with the female artists, moderated by Danto. General admission for all films is $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
In Sag Harbor, Bay Street Theater (1 Long Wharf, 631-725-9500) hosts “Mom’s Night Out, The Mother of All Comedy Shows” on Saturday, March 15, at 8 p.m. The evening of comedy features four female headlining comediennes: Ellen Karis, Marla Shultz, Carla Ulbrich and Peaches Rodriguez as well as special guest comic and Sag Harbor resident Ruby Jackson. Tickets start at $37 and are available here. On Saturday, March 29, join powerhouse female vocalist Jill Gioia and her band for “Women of Rock,” a unique musical journey that’s an expert blend of rock ‘n roll’s iconic female artists and bands from the days of classic rock through today. Tickets start at $42 and are available here. Show starts at 8 p.m.
