it is amazing what happens
when women gather
when they practice unconditional love and hold space for each to blossom
in her own light.  when sisterhood is the focus and music is the universal language,
anything is possible...

Listen to words of support!
"As a singer and a Reiki Master, I believe that Jessi Nicholson's WOMEN SING. SISTERS GATHER. project has the potential to be a healing source of feminine empowerment and unity."

~ Risa Branch - Vancouver, BC ~-
:: Vocalist & Songwriter ::

"Being pregnant for the first time and being away from my circle of friends has been difficult. However I find it's not just them that I am yearning for. I want to be around other women who are pregnant, other women who have children. I want to see them, share stories, feel their support and give them support.

I feel like WSSG would provide not just a place of singing and making music, but a place of laughing, dancing, loving and talking. We spend so much time these days disconnecting from each other and speaking through our phones and computers. What we need to help fuel us and center us are physical interactions. Conversations face to face. And then to be able to reach out to other women through music? Amazing. It's very easy to feel alone in this world. Comfort and support can be one of the most incredible gifts."

~ Meghan Davies - Tahsis, BC ~
:: Visual Artist & Mama To Be ::

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS IN SUPPORT OF THIS PROJECT:

Feel free to write, sing, speak, chant, rap, dance or sign your submission.

Please accompany any visual submissions with a write up describing your ideas.

The Submission:
Record on your phone or video camera, a 10-15 second segment in support of this project and why you might want to participate, why someone you know may benefit from it, why those who identify as women, girls or non-binary may benefit in general or why you support this project even if you do not identify as a woman, girl or non-binary.

Release
By submitting your video or comments you are giving permission to Light The Stage Community Arts & Education to use it for promotional purposes verbally, in print or online.

Participants
This project is open to submissions on a global scale so please do feel free to think about those who identify as girls, women or non-binary that you may know or have worked with in another country. We would like to create as many bridges as possible.

Please send all submissions to:
info@lightthestage.ca

Copy and paste into your subject line:
WSSG Project Support
ABOUT THIS PROJECT:


A collaborative and artistic project opportunity combining creativity, community, storytelling, and sisterhood and creation of a safe space for authentic and meaningful artistic development and expression.

Through mindful partnership, we work with community leaders, facilitators, parents, teachers, elders to create an opportunity for those who identify as women, girls and non-binary to express and share their experiences, traumas, healing, wisdom, truths, relationships, addictions, recoveries, life lessons, breakthroughs, families, children, celebrations, realizations, memories and cultures, mama hood, what it's like to be a girl or woman, celebrating the feminine divine, cultural beauty or struggle, empowerment and women’s rights.   With creation of original music & singing or spoken word as the focus, all other artistic mediums including but not limited to theatre, dance, visual art and multimedia are welcomed as part of the work & sharing.

Each project will be based on an overall theme collectively negotiated by the participants involved. Working with a panel of professional artists, facilitators and mentors, participants will establish a project timeline and determine which resources and supports are needed to overcome barriers, create bridges and provide appropriate tools and space in which to create their works.

Each project will consist of numerous theme based pieces created by individual participants as well as at least one group piece which includes all participants. The process will be documented and pieces will eventually be performed or shared in a community showcase event.

The proceeds from the showcase event is two fold:

(1) Compensation for each participant based on percentage of donations which may be in the form of cash or services in kind.

(2) A funding bank which will provide start up grants (cash or services in kind) to the participants who wish to further develop their piece into a full project.

A grant application process will be implemented and selections will be based on specific criteria including a “pay it forward" aspect intended to assist an emerging artist in their local community.

Thank you for your support and for spreading the word about this project!


A BOUQUET OF WOMEN SINGING            ~ by Lucia Comnes ~

Something happens when the women join their voices.
When the women open their mouths and sing, something happens...is happening.
It is not something like pine cones falling to the forest floor.
It is more like snowflakes drifting.
It is just their way in this time of the setting sun.
This thing that happens when women hit the bellows...
it is something that peels through the space like a banana being peeled.
Like petals letting go of their source only to meet the breeze and play
before lilting upon moving water, slipping apart and catching onto branches..
splitting around stones down stream only to meet again at the base of a waterfall.

These harmonies. This is holy.

What moves me to action.  The work of the women.
Women and the wisdom.

This something that happens when the women join their voices.