Lizzie Schebesta

WITS’ FESTIVAL FATALE

‘MAKING HERSTORY’

We invite you to join us as a donor to WITS’ inaugural Festival Fatale!

Imagine bringing together an incredible program of thrilling, entertaining and grounding-breaking theatre from established and emerging Australian women writers - two intense days of performances, readings, special introductions, cabaret and stand up acts and plenty of networking drinks! Imagine a place where theatre practitioners and feminists can come together in a social and celebratory hub to experience great theatre by women, see complex female characters on our stages and find inspiration!

Festival Fatale is the reality - a two-day Independent Feminist Theatre Festival in October, housed at The Eternity Playhouse, supported by Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Creative Partnerships Australia through Match. All participating theatre companies will be female-driven, all writing will be by women, all the leading protagonists on stage will be women and Festival Fatale will reflect the diversity of women living in Sydney.

Creative work will be selected - with targets for diversity - by a panel. Watch our website for applications, available in May, at the close of this pozible campaign.

Your financial support will provide contributing artists a festival worthy of celebrating their work, and will be giving Sydney an opportunity for high quality, female-driven artistry that would not otherwise be seen in 2016. Festival Fatale.

www.festivalfatale.com

WITS plans to support each creative project financially, pay for rights, cover venue costs, provide insurance, and create publicity and marketing. We already have fabulous in-kind support from Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Sport for Jove and Pearly Productions and anticipate a healthy box office. But ticket prices alone will not sustain this high-quality and all-inclusive Festival. So we are thrilled to announce we are participants in the Creative Partnerships Match program - if we raise our target of $8000 from this campaign they will turn it into $16,000.

Your contribution will be vital in making this Match a reality.

Each Donor Reward Level is dedicated to an Australian woman that inspires us!

WHY DONATE TO THIS PROJECT?

According to the most recent survey, women make up only 36% of those employed in the performing arts. (ABS)

Only 3 out of 10 funded theatre companies around Australia will reach gender parity in their programming of writers/directors in 2016. (WITS)

Only 39% of all plays by an Australian writer in 2016 will be by a woman, down from 43% in 2014 (AWG).

We are working to change these statistics - to provide the stepping-stones and the platform for women in our creative community that is currently lacking.

First step: Festival Fatale seeks to build a culture that honors and furthers the careers of women in our industry.

Next step: WITS aims to make this festival an annual event, which has the potential to instill long term, generational change for women performers, creatives and technicians.

Support complex and diverse women on our stages! Support Festival Fatale!