Two Resources

As part of our ongoing desire to spread the word, we are continuing to feature profiles of nationally and internationally recognized sex and gender resources.  This issue, we present contact information on two resources uniting activism and the arts: The Provisions LIbrary in Washington, DC and Women Make Movies in New York City.

Provisions Library
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW second floor
Washington, DC 20009.
www.provisionslibrary.org
pl@provisionslibrary.org
202-299-0460

Provisions Library is a creative intersection for social change ideas and learning—a place where compelling voices and diverse perspectives are collected and presented. Its mission is to amplify ideas that challenge and redefine the mainstream.  Through its visual arts exhibition program, library and website resources, and educational initiatives, Provisions facilitates exploration of global perspectives and alternative bodies of knowledge with a special emphasis on the arts as an agent of change.

At Provisions, personal experience and its creative expression are the primary means for sharing information and gaining knowledge. This value is evident in the Library's emphasis on fiction, poetry, and memoir in their book and periodical collection, and in the central role of visual, performance arts and film in all their programming.

The Provisions include:

• 4,000 books and 450 journal subscriptions offering voices from silenced communities,
• socially-concerned art/artists, and independent media.
• A Reference Collection of anthologies, dictionaries, maps, and directories.
• An Art Reference Collection that includes artists, exhibits. and special collections from around the world.
• Multimedia (DVD's, CD-ROM databases, online journals and databases).

Provisions helps connect anarchy and revolutionary practice to natural foods and nutrition, youth activism to voices from the global South. The Library's collection, programs, and staff aim to bring together these many areas (at Provisions, they call them “Meridians”) to support connections between people—across movements, nations, communities, and perspectives.

The value of creative expression lies at the core of Provisions' mission. Through its gallery and website, Provisions extends the possibilities of a socially-engaged art practice and an inspired activism. Past exhibitions have addressed Palestinian rights, illegal art, revolutionary struggle, spirituality, and global diversity. Programs are organized with professional staff and guest curators. While most traditional museums and galleries hesitate to exhibit controversial or socially-grounded art, Provisions' mission is to deeply examine this nexus.

Profile by Katy Otto

--

Women Make Movies (WMM)
462 Broadway Suite 500WS
New York, NY 10013
212-925-0606
212-925-2052 (Fax)
info@wmm.com (for general information)
orders@wmm.com (for film and videotape orders)

Established in 1972, WMM is a non-profit, multicultural, multiracial organization promoting feminist media, film, and video.  WMM helps produce, promote, distribute, and exhibit movies by and about women.

With more than 500 films from over 400 filmmakers representing nearly 30 countries, WMM’s distribution service is its primary program.  Their collection includes documentary, experimental, animation, dramatic, and mixed-genre titles from a diversity of styles, subjects, perspectives, abilities, and orientations.  Videos are available for rental or sale, and WMM will provide assistance in developing education curriculum or festival programming.

Some of their most popular titles include:
The Body Beautiful
Calling the Ghosts
Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter
Daughter Rite
Dialogues with Madwomen
Divorce Iranian Style
Girls Like Us
A Jury of Her Peers

WMM also offers a production assistance program for emerging and established artists.  This program provides training, consultations on fundraising, proposal writing and production management, grant and donation administration, and informational services to independent media artists.

Through its media workshops, WMM is able to provide hands-on technical training in film and video, practical advice about managing the business aspects of filmmaking and the media industry, and more advanced training for experienced artists.

Whether you are an independent film or video maker, a festival programmer, educator, or someone interested in feminist media, WMM has resources to address the under representation and misrepresentation of women in the media.

Profile by Brian Bergen-Aurand, Sex and Gender Editor

--

If you would like to profile a sex and gender resource, library, or museum in your area, please email Brian Bergen-Aurand, sex and gender editor, at brian@clamormagazine.org.