Film/Reading Project
With the Women’s March and start of the national #MeToo movement in 2017, women are increasingly finding their voices as survivors, activists and advocates. This project uses poetry to help women — both Cornell students and Ithaca community members — to identify and write about trauma, survival and joy. Professor Van Clief-Stefanon and community partner/filmmaker Sue Perlgut documented participants in workshops, filming their creative output and interviewed participants to create a multimedia presentation. Join Cornell students, staff and women from the larger Ithaca community as the film focuses on the poetry and joy that evolve from the experiences of trauma.
Important links:
Summer Voices – 17: Our Answer to Hate Video Clip
Just Announced! Other Powers will be screened at the Spring Writes Literary Festival
Friday, May 3, 4:30 PM, Tompkins County Public Library, free and open to the public
Follow us on Instagram:@otherpowers
First screened at Cinemapolis, in Ithaca, NY on March 13 and 14 of 2019.
The Workshops
In September 2018, We conducted two workshops led by poet and professor Lyrae VanClief-Stefanon to document how women reclaimed joy through creative arts. The workshops involved 16 women with distinct backgrounds, stories and identities, including Cornell students and Ithaca community members.
In the workshops, participants were encouraged to voice their experience through poems, videos, spoken words and drawings. We are more than grateful to witness the birth of so many powerful creative works throughout the projects.
In September 2018, We conducted two workshops led by poet and professor Lyrae VanClief-Stefanon to document how women reclaimed joy through creative arts. The workshops involved 16 women with distinct backgrounds, stories and identities, including Cornell students and Ithaca community members.
In the workshops, participants were encouraged to voice their experience through poems, videos, spoken words and drawings. We are more than grateful to witness the birth of so many powerful creative works throughout the projects.
Partially supported by grants from: The City Federation of Women’s Organizations, An Engaged Opportunity Grant from the Office of Engagement Initiatives, and with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Community Arts Partnership.