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V-DAY ANNOUNCES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY PLANS IN NEW ORLEANS

03/07/2008

WITH V-DAY FOUNDER/PLAYWRIGHT EVE ENSLER, LT. GOVERNOR MITCH LANDRIEU, MAYOR C. RAY NAGIN, AND ASHE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER/ KATRINA WARRIORS REPRESENTATIVE CAROL BEBELLE

New Orleans Press Conference
“V To The Tenth” Events To Take Place Friday - Saturday, April 11-12, 2008
At The New Orleans Arena And Louisiana Superdome
Featuring
Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Glenn Close, Ali Larter, Julia Stiles, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Didi Conn, Christine Lahti, Calpernia Addams, & Musicians Faith Hill, Jennifer Hudson, Common, Eve, Charmaine Neville

Superlove To Offer Two Days Of Art, Performance, Speakers, And Wellness At The Superdome

Regional Community Groups Come Together As The “Katrina Warriors Network”

March 7, 2008 - New Orleans, LA - V-Day Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler, Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, and Ashe Cultural Arts Center/Katrina Warriors Representative Carol Bebelle joined together today at a press conference at the W Hotels New Orleans to announce V-Day’s 10th anniversary events in New Orleans. V TO THE TENTH will take place Friday - Saturday, April 11-12 at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome bringing thousands of women and men to the city to celebrate V-Day’s ten years of ending violence against women and girls, and to honor the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South.

Founded by playwright Eve Ensler in 1998 at the first benefit of her award winning play The Vagina Monologues, the global non profit has raised over $50 million for local anti violence groups with benefit events taking place in over 120 countries to date. V-Day supports anti-violence organizations throughout the world, helping them to continue and expand their core work on the ground, while drawing public attention to the larger fight to stop worldwide violence (including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual slavery) against women and girls. V-Day combines art and activism to stage large-scale benefits and produce innovative gatherings, films, and programs to educate and change social attitudes regarding violence against women.

V-DAY’S TENTH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS - V TO THE TENTH
V-Day is producing two days of events Friday - Saturday, April 11-12 at the Louisiana Superdome, with a Saturday evening event at the New Orleans Arena. “V TO THE TENTH will celebrate our victories and usher in the next ten years where together we will raise the stakes, go further, go deeper, increase the power and CHANGE THE STORY OF WOMEN. What happened in New Orleans and the Gulf South after the flood and storm represents the challenges that women face worldwide- violence, global warming, racism, lack of healthcare and education, financial insecurity, and the failure of local and national governments. All these are pieces of the story of violence that continues to impact women in the United States and around the world. V TO THE TENTH is a celebration, it is the call, the decision, the next step,” stated V-Day Founder/Artistic Director Eve Ensler.

V TO THE TENTH - A star-studded performance will close the two-day celebration with V TO THE TENTH, Saturday evening, April 12 at 7:30pm. Together on one stage - Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Glenn Close, Ali Larter, Julia Stiles, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Calpernia Addams, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Didi Conn, Christine Lahti, will join V-Day for a once in a lifetime benefit event featuring performances of The Vagina Monologues, a special new monologue written by Ensler and performed by Oprah Winfrey, plus very special musical performances by Faith Hill, Jennifer Hudson, Common, Eve, and New Orleans own Charmaine Neville. *

Tickets are on sale now, $25, $50, $125, $250, $500, and $1000, at vday.org/tickets. The event is a benefit and will raise funds for groups ending violence against women worldwide, and in the Gulf South region.

SUPERLOVE - Over two days, Friday - Saturday, April 11 -12, the Superdome will be transformed into SUPERLOVE - a place to heal, gather, celebrate and activate to change the story of women. From 10am-9pm Friday and 10am-5pm Saturday, SUPERLOVE will feature two days of revolutionary speakers, slam poets, singers, performers, storytelling, astounding art, and love. Special wellness programs will be available free of charge for the women of the Gulf South including restorative yoga, massage, medical testing, makeovers, and more.

Speakers, performers and artists from New Orleans and the Gulf South will be featured along with speakers traveling to New Orleans from over all over the world. Among the over 75 speaking and performing at SUPERLOVE are Ashe Cultural Arts Center’s Carol Bebelle, Founder of the V-Day Safe House in Kenya Agnes Pareyio, Jennifer Buffett and Peter Buffett of the NoVo Foundation, Panzi Hospital’s Dr. Denis Mukwege, Matt Petersen, Global Green, actor Amber Tamlyn, Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx, Stephen Lewis, AIDS-Free World and former Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, financial expert Suze Orman, former president of Spellman College Dr. Johnnetta Cole, poet Suheir Hammad, writer Mark Matousek*, and many more.

Entry to SUPERLOVE is FREE. For the full schedule and list of participants, visit vday.org/superlove .

WHY NEW ORLEANS?
Each year V-Day increases awareness by focusing on a specific group of women in the world who are resisting violence with courage and vision. For 2008, V-Day’s Spotlight is on the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Leading up to April, thousands of V-Day benefits worldwide will highlight the daily ongoing work of women in their communities who have steadfastly kept New Orleans and the Gulf South alive with little to no resources. These women - “Katrina Warriors” - will be honored for their strength and resilience in the face of devastating loss. The spotlight will bring global attention and funds so that women may be safe and empowered in a region whose pulse beats like no other.

The Katrina Warriors Network is the diverse body of individuals, affinities, organizations, and institutions doing work to support and enhance the well being of women and girls in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana, and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The founding Nodes of the Katrina Warriors Network are Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, The New Orleans Regional Alliance Against Abuse (2005-2006), and V-Day. The Katrina Warriors Network is advised and mediated by a Katrina Warriors Council representative of Network participants.

Beginning March 8 and in the weeks leading up to the April 11-12 events, the Katrina Warriors Network participants will host the “Katrina Warriors Festival” - a slate of educational, cultural, and entertainment events of all shapes and sizes across the region, with the flurry of activity in New Orleans intensifying as April 12 nears.

SPONSORS AND SUPPORT
V TO THE TENTH will open minds and hearts and raise much needed attention and funds for groups working to end violence against women and girls around the world, and in New Orleans and the Gulf South. V-Day’s anniversary events are made possible by the generous support of the NoVo Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. As of the press conference, corporate sponsors include W Hotels New Orleans, TBWA/CHIAT/DAY Los Angeles, Vosges Haut Chocolate and media sponsors Oprah & Friends radio, Glamour, O Magazine, Marie Claire, and Bust (list in formation).

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 2008, more than 3700 V-Day events will take place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic Of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. V-Day was named one of Worth magazine's "100 Best Charities" in 2001 and Marie Claire’s “Top Ten Charities” in 2006. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. http://www.vday.org

* Pending scheduling