22 Nov Your Solidarity and Support Make This Movement Possible
As our 25th anniversary year draws to a close, we are filled with gratitude for this unique, ever-changing, and stunning movement.
V-Day and One Billion Rising activists once again shattered traditions and created spaces for grassroots dialogue, with art and activism always at the forefront. They rose for gender, climate, economic, and racial justice and against a wave of war, right-wing nationalism, white supremacy, colorism, fascism, xenophobia, misogyny, femicide, homophobia, transphobia, corporate greed, and climate destruction, centering their voices and experiences of the most marginalized.
During the ten-year anniversary campaign, ONE BILLION RISING GLOBAL COORDINATORS and teams worldwide staged over 1,200 art and activism risings/events across 100 countries. Activists across the globe localized the call to RISE FOR FREEDOM and Create the New Culture with self-determined and specific regional, national, and community-based issues. Their Risings saw a shared depth, scope, and diversity as they continued to usher transformation with fierce creative energy and determination. As we write, activists are launching the campaign on 25 November – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – and throughout the 16 Days of Activism concluding on 10 December.
AT CITY OF JOY IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, 1987 survivors have graduated to date, turning their pain into power that is fueling change across a nation. They are change-makers, celebrating their victory over trauma, thriving women who are determined to heal. This year, Co-founder and Director of City of Joy, V-World Farm, and V-Day Congo, Christine Schuler Deschryver shared the story of City of Joy’s model in her first TED talk at Ted Women in Atlanta.
At the V-DAY SAFE HOUSE FOR THE GIRLS IN NAROK COUNTY, KENYA, girls continue to break taboos, rejecting Female Genital Mutilation and Early Childhood Marriage, dedicating themselves to their education and communities. Our newly formed scholarship program for high school graduates provides a platform for Safe House graduates to continue their education and follow their careers, visions, and dreams.
In 2024, VOICES, our new interdisciplinary audio play and campaign grounded in Black women’s stories to unify the vision of ending violence against women across the African Continent and African Diaspora – creative Directed by Aja Monet, produced by Hollis Heath and composed by LeahAnn “Lafemmebear” Mitchell – is poised to launch to activists across the globe.
The BEYOND INCARCERATION PROJECT’s Right/Write to Heal initiative, a joint venture between V-Day and the Center for Justice at Columbia University, deepened its focus on creating platforms and art featuring the writings of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women with the release of “Doing Time” and a staged reading, produced by the Classical Theater of Harlem, among many other creative projects.
At V25 Evening of Reckoning & Rising events in NYC and Atlanta, activists and supporters gathered together to celebrate this work, channeling art and creativity with a shared vision and mission for a world free from violence. A world where all women, girls, and the Earth thrive instead of merely survive.
This giving season, support V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women, gender expansive people, girls and the planet. Join us.
Your Solidarity and Support Make This Movement Possible.
P.S. If your gift is already on its way, thank you!
V-Day is a California 501(c)(3) public charity and is one of the Top-Rated organizations on both Charity Navigator and Guidestar. 31 December is the last day to make charitable donations in order to claim them on your 2023 tax return.