Stand Up Women ™: Social Activism in Tompkins County

Watch the interviews with the participants here!

Article from The Ithacan

Stand Up Women™! Social Activism in Tompkins County focuses on older local women social activists. In workshops led by artist/activist Caryl Henry Alexander women expressed their activism through the creation of visual art. In addition, they were interviewed by filmmaker Sue Perlgut about their art and their activism. Joan Adler, Yvonne Fisher, Myra Kovary, Leslyn McBean Clairborne, Sue Perlgut and Nicole Carrier-Titi have had their work and/or their interviews exhibited at the CAP Art Space 110 N. Tioga St. (The Commons) and Lifelong. 

This project was partially funded by a CAP Artist in Community Grant, a CAP SOS Grant and is co-sponsored by Lifelong and Carol Bushberg Real Estate. The art work was first exhibited at Lifelong in November and December of 2023.

About Caryl Henry Alexander

Environmental and social justice activist and artist Caryl Henry Alexander has been collaborating with Sue Perlgut since the late 1990’s including the creation several of murals in Ithaca. Caryl’s work harnesses the power of creative collaboration with multi-generational, multicultural, and interfaith communities to conceive, design, and implement community art projects.

About Sue Perlgut
Award winning documentarian Sue Perlgut formed CloseToHome Productions in 2007 to reach a wide-ranging audience with videos that feature topical and socially relevant issues. Along with her four completed documentaries ranging from abortion rights (ConnieCookFilm.com) to retirement to hospice, to feminist theatre, she created and produced multi-media films/readings about women in Tompkins County: The Women’s Wisdom Project, Other Powers: Trauma Survivors Reclaim Joy, and Women Artists Have Their Say. Perlgut has worked in theatre in NYC and Ithaca for more than 40 years. Perlgut founded The Senior Troupe of Lifelong in Ithaca, NY, where for 23 years she directed, wrote and sometimes performed as the troupe told stories from their lives. In 2024, Sue was recognized by Assemblywoman Anna Kelles as a Woman of Distinction. She is currently serves on the board of Cinemapolis.