2019 V-Day Organizers: Reaching out regarding Documenting your Testimonies of Rising

Dear V-Activists,

As you know, this year, in place of a traditional V-Day Spotlight monologue, we have invited you to amplify and lift up the often unheard and excluded voices of survivors, activists and groups in your communities by creating three community-written testimonies, to be performed at the end of the play. These monologues should center the voices of the most marginalized women on your stage, harnessing the power of The Vagina Monologues to create a space for critical conversations and voices.

We are thrilled that many of you have already taken up this call, planning the first of these new monologues to showcase a formerly incarcerated or detained woman in your community, inviting them to speak to the audience about their experiences and how they connect to the issue of violence against women and girls. This monologue will be help to infuse V-Day's 2019 global Spotlight campaign on Women in Prisons and Jails, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women with depth.

You have also been invited to choose two additional local leaders or activists who are doing the crucial, daily work of ending violence in your community to present a "What and Why My Vagina is Rising" monologue. Invite them to share with the audience what they are working to change and how the local community can support them. We suggest each performer is given 2 minutes each on stage, and that you work out staging and lighting for this portion, so that it is integrated as part of the whole experience for the audience.

Our vision is that activists will use this platform to shed light on the connection between gender-based violence and political instability, armed conflict, xenophobia, unsafe working conditions, transphobia, homophobia, and racism. Rising Testimonies can cover a range of topics—gender and sexuality, identity, the changing socio-political climate, any issue specific to the community at hand.

With this in mind, if you/your cast is willing to share, we would love to receive the written version and/or video of these testimonies, and any photos you may have. Photos and videos should be the highest quality possible. If recording videos on a smartphone, please record them in horizontal / widescreen format.

Please send them to us at: [email protected]. With multiple and larger files, you can easily send them using free services like WeTransfer. You can also use Google Drive and Dropbox by "sharing" the files with us or sending us the shareable link to download.

We thank you for your dedication to this work and are with you every step of the way.

With v-love and solidarity,

The V-Day Campaigns Team

P.S. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]