Ladies Of Courage In the Park now over was for 2023 Festival

THIS FUND RAISER IS NOW OVER PLEASE INSTEAD GO TO FUND LADIES OF COURAGE ART FESTIVAL LogoVideo WHAT IT IS

Ladies of Courage, a community fostering, free to the public cultural arts festival will take place during woman's month, March 25 -26, in the West Hollywood Park, 647 N. SanVicente Blvd. West Hollywood, California.

Ladies of Courage is a joyful celebration to honor the contributions of women of all times. In the telling of history, despite their large part in shaping the world, women and the men who championed them have often been overlooked. In this time when woman's rights are being eroded it is important to stand up for the equality of all.

This event will provide a showcase for artists, musicians, poets, and dancers to show and perform their original works. We want to create a meaningful experience that will leave everyone inspired, informed and happy.

The City of West Hollywood California has offered us a grant of $5000, but we must match it to receive it. Please note that after the expenses are met remaining funds will be shared by the artists and people in the collaborative team who have worked so hard to create the event.

HOW IT BEGAN

During the depths of the pandemic feeling some joy was needed, and disturbed by the erosion of women's rights, I began doing animations of dancing ladies with particles flying about them to celebrate women. I called them Ladies of Courage. I told a creative friend I had worked with before, Tim Hicks about the animations and our first thought was that we would project the animations onto walls of buildings along Santa Monica Blvd, perhaps including a performer or two, for example one of our members Nathalie Bonin playing her original compositions on the violin. We invited composers and mocap artists to work with us. That was the beginning of the collaborative team we are today. A team of artists, dancers, composers, producers and technical people all of whom are adding to the content of the project, taking it far beyond my first CG animated ladies. All of our different skills and strengths contribute to the project. Some of the main organizers are, me, Audri Phillips(director) Lilly Vargas( logistics and production manager), Maija Beeton, Ed Lantz, Kate McCallum, Tony DiMarco (Sound Logistics), Tom Laichas and Nina Lorna.

A member of the West Hollywood board, wisely suggested we use the park to project the images and animations onto the building walls rimming it. So began the park festival.

Sadly Tim Hicks recently passed away and he is very missed by the Los Angeles entertainment community.

We dedicate this festival to his vibrant and creative spirit.

THE FESTIVAL

We hope to also highlight the beauty and functionality of the City park. We have picked seven large beautiful well spaced trees in the park that will be designated by banners and given the name of a lady of courage. During the daytime hours from 2 pm until sunset on each day we will be scheduling poets, and musicians to perform original works under the three of the seven trees.

We are calling them Poet Trees. A tree for every poet and a poet for every tree. Attendees will be given a map of the tree locations and schedule of performances so they can wander freely from tree to tree. Our largest seven sponsors will be invited to each sponsor a tree. We will also hope to put out an ebook of the poets in the event.

Mapping buildings and walls have become in the recent decades a very exciting and inspiring art form. There are several buildings that rim the park and have walls facing into the Park, the Abbey nightclub and restaurant and the Ariana rug company. The Ariana rug company in particular has lovely white walls which are perfect for projecting onto. From sunset until 10 pm each evening there will be animations and videos projected onto the walls of both the Abbey and the Ariana rug company. The works that are projected will be limited only by the creativity and imagination of the artists involved. We hope to have some pieces which provide interactivity with the audience. One wall will be dedicated to a projection of the names of ladies of courage. We are inviting all contributors to add to the list of names.

While it is hard to predict the number of people who will attend, it is in a very populated area, it is free to the public and it will be well publicized by the City of West Hollywood and the organizers. We are hoping for at the minimum several thousand people attend over the two days.

We would like to stream the festival and the events real-time as they happen. We are creating a meta world online for Ladies of Courage which can be freely accessed on the internet. We would like to also film and document the festival.

To make all of our plans happen requires funding.

EXPENSES

4 projectors of minimum 5 K lum

8 speakers with power cables and speaker stands

9 XLR cables

3 mixers with power cables

4 HDMI cables

4 Mics

8 extension chords

4 cocktail tables to place projectors on

4 white linens for tables

4 Generators

30 gallons of gas if needed by the generators

4 tables for the mixing boards

3 black linens that reach to the ground

3 Canopies 10 by 10

8 uplights

8 folding chairs

1 small stage- 8 by 10 feet

I Uhaul

Banners for the 7 trees

Cameras for documenting the event

Streaming equipment and service

Computers(laptops) to hook up to the projectors

Insurance

Porta potties

Security

Permit fees

4 music stands

Ladies of Courage Website

THE TEAM

As most of the members of the team are active in the LA entertainment community we can bring a high level of artistic and technical expertise to the event. It is being done in co-sponsorship with Eye Poet LLC (A company newly formed specifically for this event by the directing artist, Audri Phillips) and the City of West Hollywood California.

TEAM MEMBERS: Audri Phillips, Lilly Vargas, Tony DiMarco, Ed Lantz, Maija Beeton, Nina Lorna, Kate McCallum, Phillip Fury Wainwright, Lady Millard, Christain Miehls, Nathalie Bonin, Tom Laichas

The City of West Hollywood has offered to put up $5000 towards expenses if it is matched with an equal amount by Eye Poet(formed specifically for Ladies of Courage). Any money that is not used for the expenses will be shared with all of the performers and hard working members of the team. Please do help us to at least minimally match the grant given by the City of West Hollywood. No amount is too small and will be gratefully accepted.

It is our hope that "Ladies Of Courage" will inspire everyone to honor courageous ladies, step into their own power, realize their gifts and offer them at this time when a bit of art and fun can only help.