Voices & Faces: DEC. 2011 | Standing up For Women

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Standing up For Women in the United States, the Middle East, and beyond.

On October 20th, award-winning author Marina Nemat (whose memoir, "Prisoner of Tehran," is an international bestseller), Iranian activist Fary Moini, and Voices and Faces Project founder Anne K. Ream were featured speakers at the second annual "Stand Up For Women" event in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. “Stand Up For Women” was created to raise awareness of global violence against women, while encouraging an inclusive, non-partisan dialogue about how to end it. The event was conceived by Stephanie Hanson, a member of the Amnesty International Executive Director Leadership Council, and presented by Fairbanks Republican Women Federated.

Speaking to a sold-out crowd, Nemat, Moini and Ream reflected on the global crisis of violence against women, and called for greater political engagement in the fight to end it. In her talk, Ream noted, "The heartbreaking and all too common stories of women and girls who have lived through sexual violence demand our attention, our compassion and - most importantly - our immediate action. Too often that action is stalled by our inability to work together at home, and come together in Washington. Yet violence against women is surely an issue where those of different ideologies can find common ground. We owe this to women and girls who are suffering greatly here, and beyond our borders.”

The Voices and Faces Project, recently named one of "America's Best Charities" by the board of directors of Independent Charities of America, has been recognized by the United States Department of Justice as part of the "new generation" of anti-violence leaders. We're working to change minds, hearts and social policy by helping survivors to tell their stories and by introducing those stories into the public square. We need your support to continue our work.

Meet Pilar Patzkowski, our Project Latina Outreach Coordinator.
The Spanish-speaking and Latina population is one of the fastest growing in the United States, and a critical Voices and Faces Project community beyond our borders. Bringing the stories of Latina sexual violence and trafficking survivors to the attention of the public, while creating a safe space for Latinas to share their own stories, is what The Voices and Faces Project’s “Project Latina” initiative is all about. To meet these goals, we will launch a Spanish-language version of voicesandfaces.org, and expand our efforts to document the stories of survivors in Latin America, in 2012. Pilar Patzkowski has played a key role in our Voices and Faces Project efforts on behalf of the women of Atenco, Mexico, and she is driving the development of our new Spanish language website.
Find out more about this inspiring member of our Voices and Faces Project team.

Make it a “Perfect Holiday”: See you on December 3rd!
Join us for our 3rd annual “Perfect Holiday” event. Support the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and The Voices and Faces Project, while mingling with friends. The event will include decadent deserts, festive cocktails and a fabulous silent auction featuring work from a list of international contemporary art world stars that includes Patricia Evans, Vera Klement, Gabriela Morawetz, Lee Tracy & others.

WHEN: Saturday, December 3, 2011, 8pm-11pm
WHERE: Maxim's 24 E. Goethe Street, Chicago

Movements, Not Marketing: Thinking differently about survivor storytelling.
Sharing the stories of survivors of sexual violence and trafficking in a new media-driven world creates unique ethical and creative challenges. What are those challenges? And what are their implications for broader social movements? On November 9th, Alisa Roadcup, our Voices and Faces Project Director of Strategic Initiatives and a member of Amnesty International USA’s Women Human Rights Coordination Group; Jennifer Severns, founder of BoomGirl; and Anne Ream engaged in a lively panel discussion on “Movements, Not Marketing,” at the “Humanization of Brands” conference in New York City. You can watch the panel discussion, which was simulcast live, here.

Our testimonial writing workshop is coming to Milwaukee, Cleveland and Edmonton - and it can come to your community, too.
We believe that every woman's story has power and purpose, which is why The Voices and Faces Project recently launched "The Stories We Tell", the country's first 2-day testimonial writing workshop for survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence and trafficking. The workshop was created by our Voices and Faces Project Creative Initiatives team and R. Clifton Spargo, an award-winning fiction writer and Arts Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, through generous support from Verizon Wireless. In 2012 the writing workshop will travel to Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Edmonton, Canada. To find our more about bringing this traveling workshop to your community, email us.

Introducing our Voices and Faces Project Lecture Series.
Members of our Voices and Faces Project Speakers Bureau have spoken in 31 US States and on three continents, sharing survivor stories from our documentary project and advocating for change. To see a list of currently available Voices and Faces Project lectures and multi-media presentations, visit our website. To arrange for a speaker for your next event, email us.

This holiday season, give the gift of music, and support The Voices and Faces Project.
Our second Voices and Faces Project benefit cd, The Angel Band Project, is on sale now. This moving collection of songs -- including tunes by two of our personal favorites, Bob Dylan and Patty Griffin -- honors the life of Teresa Butz, a victim of rape and murder, and has been a labor of love for Teresa's Tony and Grammy Award-winning brother Norbert Butz Junior. 100% of proceeds from The Angel Band Project benefit our Voices and Faces Project work to end sexual violence. Visit the Angel Band Project blog.

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