NYC Mayor Bloomberg Joins with V-Day to Launch Until the Violence Stops: NYC at City Hall Press Conference

V-DAY ANNOUNCES CITYWIDE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN THAT URGES NEW YORKERS TO ‘MAKE NYC THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS’

MESSAGING AND ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN WILL PROMOTE
UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC, A TWO-WEEK FESTIVAL BRINGING THE ISSUE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN CENTER STAGE JUNE 12-27

Tickets From $10, On Sale NOW

New York, NY - May 18, 2006 - Today, NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined with V-Day Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler to launch UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC and the messaging/advertising campaign in the Blue Room at NYC’s City Hall.

“Eve Ensler’s festival, Until the Violence Stops: NYC, takes the issue of violence against women out of the silence of the home and into the community, demanding all New Yorkers work to end violence against women,” stated Mayor Bloomberg. To view the press conference, visit: http://www.nyc.gov

From May 22 - late June, a citywide outdoor advertising campaign that will take over New York City’s buses, subway cars, subway platforms and street banners urging New Yorkers to “Make NYC The Safest Place On Earth For Women And Girls.” The campaign will appear throughout the five boroughs stopping all New Yorkers in their tracks and inviting them to join V-Day in the effort to end violence against women and girls.

The campaign will promote V-Day’s two-week festival that will bring together artists, community groups and city leaders for the very first festival of its kind: UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC. Taking place June 12 – 27, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC is a festival of theater, spoken word, performance and community events created to bring the issue of violence against women and girls front and center in the culture and the community.

Featuring performances by Kathy Bates, Jane Fonda, Salma Hayek, Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson, Diane Lane, Suheir Hammad, Marcia Gay Harden, Sarah Jones, Brittany Murphy, Rosie O'Donnell, Phylicia Rashad, Isabella Rossellini, Marian Seldes, Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas, Idina Menzel, and more. Jane Fonda's involvement marks her first Broadway appearance since her 1963 role in Strange Interlude. Authors contributing original works written exclusively for the festival include Edward Albee, Tariq Ali, Maya Angelou, Edwidge Danticat, Anna Deavere Smith, Ariel Dorfman, Michael Eric Dyson, Dave Eggers, Nicholas Kristof, Azar Nafisi, Paula Vogel, Alice Walker, Nobel prize winner Jody Williams, Howard Zinn, and more. Start-up support for the festival provided by the Rockefeller Foundation. Lead corporate support provided by Verizon.

With marquee events with performances by celebrated actors, original works by noted authors, community events throughout the five boroughs, and a citywide messaging campaign, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC will take over New York City, putting women, their empowerment and safety directly on
center stage. UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC will issue a call to action to all New Yorkers, and to the world: Demand an end to violence against women and girls and become an active participant in ending it.

"Through V-Day, we have witnessed the power of art to transform and galvanize change. It’s time to be bold, to amplify our efforts and to take our movement to end violence against women to the next level. V-Day was born in New York City and UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC takes our message
directly to the people of New York. Together, we will make New York City the first safe place for women and girls," stated Playwright/V-Day Founder and Artistic Director Eve Ensler.

Founded in 1998 on the principle that art inspires activism, V-Day benefit performances of Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues are now performed annually worldwide February - March, in thousands of colleges and communities, raising funds for local groups working to end violence against women and girls. V-Day events have taken place in all fifty United States and in over 81 countries from Egypt to Australia to Kenya to the Philippines, raising well over $35 million to date.

Today, V-Day is a model of empowerment philanthropy and public awareness, inviting women and men to use art and performance to raise funds and awareness in their own communities. This New York City-focused campaign will utilize the key elements of performance and theater to raise consciousness and funds and increase the dialogue about violence against women locally, nationally and globally.

Joined by artists and community organizations, V-Day will work to raise the awareness level in New York City concerning the issue of violence against women and girls, educate people about the issue, and encourage citizens to take action to end it. We are poised at a historic moment for women and girls around the world, and the festival is an unprecedented opportunity to create change around the issue of violence against women and girls.

MARQUEE EVENTS
Four marquee events produced by V-Day will include involvement from the following well-known actors: Kathy Bates, Kate Clinton, Rosario Dawson, Jane Fonda,LisaGay Hamilton, Marcia Gay Harden, Salma Hayek, Suheir Hammad, Sarah Jones, Christine Lahti, Diane Lane, James Lecesne, Idina Menzel, Brittany Murphy, Kathy Najimy, Cynthia Nixon, Rosie O'Donnell, Phylicia Rashad, Shiva Rose, Isabella Rossellini, Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas, Marisa Tomei, Kerry Washington and others. Participation and event details to be confirmed.

Necessary Targets, By Eve Ensler (Monday, June 12th, Studio 54)
A once-in-a-lifetime reading of Necessary Targets, a groundbreaking play about women and war, the violence of dark memories, and the enduring resilience of the human spirit. With Academy Award winners Kathy Bates, Jane Fonda and Marcia Gay Harden, Shiva Rose, Tony Award winner Marian Seldes,
Kerry Washington, and more.
Tickets from $15 - $30: www.ticketcentral.com
or call 212.279.4200
VIP and All Access Tickets – 212.921.9070

A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writers on Violence Against
Women and Girls (Monday, June 19th Hammerstein Ballroom)
World renowned writers including Edward Albee, Tariq Ali, Maya Angelou, Michael Cunningham, Ariel Dorfman, Michael Eric Dyson, Dave Eggers, Nicholas Kristof, Kathy Najimy, Anna Deavere Smith, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn and more, come together to address the issue of violence against women, contributing original pieces and bringing their particular vision, talent and take on the issue. Performances by La Chanze, Kate Clinton, Rosario Dawson, LisaGay Hamilton, Charlotte Martin, Brittany Murphy, Cynthia Nixon, Isabella Rossellini, Marlo Thomas, Marisa Tomei, and more.
Tickets $25 General Admission: www.ticketcentral.com or call 212.279.4200
VIP and All Access Tickets – 212.921.9070

Any One Of Us: Words from Prison (Wednesday, June 21st, Alice Tully Hall at
Lincoln Center)
Presented by V-Day, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union, this event will bring forth raw voices of fierceness and honesty written by women from prisons across the nation, moving forward toward healing, understanding, and change, ultimately impacting laws and the
treatment of incarcerated women. Performances by Salma Hayek, Mindy McCready, Rosie O'Donnell, Phylicia Rashad, Marisa Tomei, Kerry Washington, and more. Sponsored in part by The New York Women's Foundation.
Tickets $15 General Admission: www.lincolncenter.org or call 212.721.6500
VIP and All Access Tickets – 212.921.9070

It’s Hard Out Here For A Girl: Brooklyn Represented in Language and Sound
(Sunday, June 25th, Brooklyn Museum)
Today's hottest spoken word poets, comediennes, musicians, and dancers willspeak out, act out, and bring the community together to create a safe haven for women and girls. Performances by Toni Blackman, Suheir Hammad, Georgia Me, Ishle Park, and Maysoon Ziyad. DJ Reborn will spin.
Tickets from $10 - $15: www.ticketcentral.com or call 212.279.4200
VIP and All Access Tickets – 212.921.9070

TICKETS FROM $10, ON SALE NOW:
ALL ACCESS:
For an all access pass to all four marquee theater events, call
212-921-9070.

$150 VIP All Access Ticket. Includes a good seat at the 4 events, admission
to the AVA Lounge Party on June 12th and the backstage tour at Lincoln
Center.

$40 All Access Ticket. Includes one seat at all 4 events. Limited number
available!

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS:
For individual tickets to Any One of Us: Words From Prison only, call CenterCharge at
212-721-6500 or visit www.lincolncenter.org.

For individual tickets to Necessary Targets, A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, and It’s Hard Out Here for a Girl, contact Ticket Central at 212.279.4200 or visit www.ticketcentral.com.

Visit www.vday.org for festival information, including links to all of the
above.

COMMUNITY EVENTS IN ALL FIVE BOROUGHS
A key element of the Festival is a grassroots campaign to bring anti-violence events directly into communities throughout the five boroughs. V-Day has convened a working group of local organizations working to end violence against women and girls in their communities. The working group is coordinating local events throughout the city. All community events will be listed on a master calendar available via the festival website. Sponsored by The Avon Foundation.

Run Until The Violence Stops, 5K Run (Tuesday, June 27th Prospect Park,
Brooklyn 7pm)
V-Day dreams of a world where there is no more violence, and women feel safe at any time of day or night. Women and men will run through the park, proudly demanding an end to the violence. For race information, please visit www.nyrr.org or call New York Road Runners 212-921-9070.

MEN & BOYS INVOLVEMENT
V-Day has convened a committee, V-Day Men, which includes Steve DiSalvo, Byron Hurt, David Jones, Jackson Katz, Don McPherson, Sanjay Rawal, Victor Rivers and Quentin Walcott. V-Day Men will develop and conduct a workshop for 200 young men from NYC, involving community leaders, activists,
multimedia tools, and celebrities. In addition to a core curriculum breaking down the issues surrounding the roots of violence toward women, a series of creative tools will be employed, including a writing/expression session, from which a small group of participants will be selected to present their pieces to the public at It’s Hard Out Here For A Girl/Brooklyn Represents: Language and Sound. The curriculum will be designed to be replicated in communities across the U.S. and around the world. Sponsored by The Avon
Foundation.

CITYWIDE MESSAGING CAMPAIGN
A messaging campaign will take over the city’s buses and subways, newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, websites, calendars, newsletters and magazines stopping all New Yorkers in their tracks and inviting them to join us in our effort to end violence against women and girls.

Education about the issue will be key to each element of the festival and messaging campaign. At each event, audiences will be given a declaration of facts about violence and actions they can take to end it. Young men participating in the men’s retreat will be educated on violence against women and girls and then given a creative space to take that information and transform it into spoken word. Anti-violence literature will be available at every UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS: NYC event including the high-profile performance events and the community events throughout the five boroughs.

With interest already growing, V-Day has designed the festival so that it may be replicated in other cities around the country and the globe, creating a model of empowerment philanthropy to raise funds and public awareness locally in those communities, featuring local talent and highlighting local groups.

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About V-Day: V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award-winning play The Vagina Monologues. In 2006, more than 2700 V-Day events in 1150 communities and colleges took
place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, V-Day has raised over $35 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns including the Karama program in the Middle East, funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs, reopened shelters, and funded safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq.

94 cents of every dollar goes straight to ending violence against women and
girls, not to covering administrative costs. V-Day keeps costs low by operating as a “virtual organization.” Incorporated as a 501(c) 3 charity in the state of California, the V-Day staff works in regions around the U.S. and world, primarily through volunteers and with a small paid staff. Eve Ensler, V-Day’s founder and artistic director, remains a volunteer. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.