The 2023 Theme for Women’s History Month is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.” “Throughout 2023, the NWHA will encourage the recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, news, and social media. This timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art and news, pursuing truth and reflecting society decade after decade.“….. National Women’s History Alliance
‘Calligraphy of Line: The Drawings of Anna Walinska’ at Graham Shay Gallery ~ On view through March 3
As we approach Women’s History Month, we highlight an exhibition from this year’s Master Drawings New York. It is Calligraphy of Line: the Drawings of Anna Walinska on view at Graham Shay Gallery through March 3rd.
Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories at NYPL Manhattan’s 53rd Street Branch
The National Association of Women Artists presents an exhibition acknowledging women’s roles in life as creators, nurturers, leaders, companions, instigators, dreamers, innovators, victims…the story of humankind seen through a woman’s eye. Exhibition on view through May 31, 2023.
Panel Discussion: March 14, 2023, 4 – 5:30 PM
NAWA Signature Members in the Panel: Sandra Bertrand, Pauline Chernichaw, & Penny Dell
Columbia U School of the Arts Presents The Fourth Annual Kit Film Noir Festival, ‘Beyond the Femme Fatale: The Women Who Made Noir’ ~ March 1 ~ 5
The 2023 Kit Noir Film Festival will examine women’s contributions to noir as film producers, screenwriters, novelists, and, in one instance, as a director. Rather than dwell on the character types that women played in noir (such as the notorious “femme fatale”), the festival instead draws attention to what women provided from behind the camera. In the process, it uncovers a period much like our own, in which women have occupied a prominent place in the popular imaginary of crime.
Screenings will be accompanied by discussions with film scholars Julie Grossman, Dana Polan,and Shelley Stamp, as well as a panel featuring crime writers Megan Abbott and Sarah Weinman.
The Women’s House of Detention, a Book Talk with Hugh Ryan at Jefferson Market Library ~ March 2
Join OHNY and author Hugh Ryan for an in-person book talk on March 2 about his in-depth study of Greenwich Village’s mostly-forgotten landmark, The Women’s House of Detention. Ryan’s work illuminates how homophobic and transphobic policing led to the imprisonment and mistreatment of individuals while celebrating the community forged through resistance to these injustices.
Jazzmobile Presents The 31st Annual Women’s Jazz Festival ~ March 6, 13, 20
The Schomburg Center’s annual Women’s Jazz Festival (WJF) is celebrating 31 years of centering Black women in the field of jazz. The Women’s Jazz Festival was founded in 1992 by then Harlem resident and jazz vocalist, Melba Joyce. Year after year, the festival and its curators have brought together musicians, dancers and a melding of musical genres to deliver an exciting series of concerts featuring some of the best-known and emerging talent by women in jazz today. The 2023 festival will be held in person on March 6, 13, and 20. The Events will take place at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., NYC.
Loss, Longing, belonging: Shahzia Sikander’s Khorfakkan Series at 19WSN ~ March 7
Join NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in New York on March 7th for an exciting dialogue, presented by the Intersectional Feminist/Queer Studies Collective with 19 Washington Square North, and co-sponsored by the Grey Art Gallery on March 2nd from 4-5:30pm. Also, the exhibition will be on view from March 2 to July 28, 2023.
United Nations Observance of International Women’s Day ~ March 8
Bringing women into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality. Their lack of inclusion, by contrast, comes with massive costs.
The United Nations Observance of IWD, under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, recognizes and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education. The observance will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities, and it will also spotlight the importance of protecting the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and addressing online and ICT-facilitated gender-based violence.
The Book Event: Women Photograph “What We See: Women & Nonbinary Perspectives Through the Lens’ at ICP ~ March 11
Women Photograph, a global organization dedicated to elevating the voices of women and nonbinary visual journalists celebrates its new publication, What We See: Women & Nonbinary Perspectives Through the Lens.
Sara Ickow, Exhibitions & Special Projects for Women Photograph and Senior Manager of Exhibitions and Collections at ICP, will lead a conversation with Women Photograph founder Daniella Zalcman and photographers Nina Berman and Kholood Eid centered on the new publication as well as the importance of representation resources within the field. The event will take place on March 11th from 1-2pm.
Living with Art Salon presents ‘Women who Paint: Are Fearless’ ~ March 12
On the heals of the exhibition, ‘Figuratively: Real and Imagined‘, Living with Art Salon will open its doors to the exhibition ‘Women Who Paint: Are Fearless‘ on March 12th, highlighting the work of three contemporary artists ~ Beth Barry, Silvia Battistuzzi and Yael Dresdner. Collectively their paintings are in conversation through color, brush stroke, shape and natural forms, interpreted by each artist.
Online with NYPL Book Discussion: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict ~ March 14
he Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein’s enormous shadow. This novel resurrects Einstein’s wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated. Was she simply Einstein’s sounding board, an assistant performing complex mathematical equations? Or did she contribute something more?
COQUÍ CLUB: Celebrating Women’s History Month at El Museo del Barrio ~ March 15
Learn, play, explore, and grow at El Museo’s bilingual program for our tiniest visitors. Coquí Club provides a fun and active way to explore El Museo and enjoy creative themes together with our museum educators. Be sure to bring your Coqui crowns and get ready to have fun!
In celebration of Women’s History Month we will be learning about influential, groundbreaking Latinx women. Together, we will be read My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz /Me llamo Celia: la vida de Celia Cruz by Monica Brown, and will listen and dance to the salsa queen’s music. There will also be time for gallery exploration and a special hands-on activity. Recommended for children ages 3-5 and their adult caregivers.
Both Sessions on March 4th are Sold Out. RSVP for New Sessions on March 15th. 9:30 ~ 10:30am And 11am to Noon.
The Women Writers of the Caffe Cino, 1959-1968 at Jefferson Market Library ~ March 16
On March 16 at 6pm, the Jefferson Market Library and archivist and Caffe Cino actress MAGIE DOMINIC will share documentation and stories about the landmark space, Caffe Cino, presenting the first program devoted to the women playwrights who produced their work at the Caffe. This small theater, located at 31 Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village, opened in 1958, and produced plays and theater work until its closing in 1968. Magie Dominic was one of the original performers at the Caffe, and like many, worked in a multiple of capacities.
Friday Film & Discussion: The Queens of Basketball ~ March 17
t’s March! The month of March Madness college basketball tournaments and Women’s History Month!
The Grand Concourse Library will be combining both themes in this month’s film & discussion. The Oscar-nominated documentary The Queens of Basketball tells the story of one of Womens basketball’s pioneer athletes, “Lusia” Lucy Harris Stewart as well as the barriers faced by the women attempting to forge their own path in a male-dominated sport. This film is unrated and runs for 21 mins 53secs.
Simone Elizabeth Saunders: Unearthing Unicorns at Claire Oliver Gallery ~ March 17
Claire Oliver Gallery will open its doors to Unearthing Unicorns, the debut solo exhibition by artist Simone Elizabeth Saunders. Unearthing Unicorns showcases large-scale textile artworks that explore the iconography of the famed high Renaissance era Unicorn Tapestries and Art Nouveau advertising through a contemporary Black feminist lens. The artist’s sweeping art historical reframing is rendered in vibrant polychrome hand-tufted textiles that both reference the prized woven tapestries of the Renaissance as well as the more contemporary feminist craft movement of the later 20th century. Unearthing Unicorns will be on view in Harlem March 17 – May 13, 2023.
Women’s History Month Afternoon Walking Tour: Jefferson Market Cafe’ Society with Village Preservation ~ March 18
Join Village Preservation as we take a walk through history discovering locations and events that made an impact on Greenwich Village and beyond right in our own backyard. Co-sponsored with Village Alliance, we will begin with a discussion of the current site of Jefferson Market Library and the impact this location has had on women’s history in New York City. We’ll end at Café Society by celebrating Billie Holiday and her courageous performance of Strange Fruit at that location. This is a free, in-person event with pre-registration.
St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights to Host Historian Martha Foley Speaking on The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange ~ March 19
In celebration of Women’s History Month, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church will host an in-person presentation on Sunday, March 19th at 1:00pm, welcoming Martha Foley, archivist and historian for The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange.
NoMAA Presents Women in the Heights: Woman of Substance at The United Palace ~ March 23
Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) will hold the 14th annual ‘Women in the Heights’ exhibition, installed in NoMAA’s gallery space on the ground floor in the historic United Palace.
Musique Libre Femmes in the Lobby of Jefferson Market Library ~ March 29
A live musical performance with Musique Libre Femmes. This all women free jazz chamber group plays for Women’s History Month.
Future Forward ~ Celebrating Women in Architecture
Women play a critically important role in architecture. This video campaign is about celebrating them and their contributions and impact to the profession and their communities. AIA’s weekly 60-second “Future Forward” video series shares female architects and designers’ favorite work, as well as their leadership, mentorship, and vision they are pursuing for an increasingly diverse and equitable profession. The videos share the stories of women, men, and firm leaders who are elevating women and changing the profession to make it a vocation of choice for anyone interested in the design field.
Visit The Center for Women’s History at New York Historical Society
From the film ‘We Rise: A Film from the Center for Women’s History’ to current exhibitions like “Our Bodies Our Power”: Women at the Forefront of the Equal Rights Amendment, and Billie Jean King: Tennis Court to Capitol Hill, there is plenty to see during Women’s History Month at New York Historical Society.
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter: “Ain’t I a Woman’ at Brooklyn Museum
On the fiftieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade—and in the year after its overturning—this exhibition examines the long history of reproductive injustice in the United States through two projects by Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter. The artist and advocate centers storytelling and healing in work that explores the institutional, legal, and cultural processes that have brutally stripped Black women and girls of their bodily autonomy.
Visit the entire 4th Floor, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, while you’re there.
Visit the Lesbian Herstory Archives
On November 22, 2022, LPC voted to approve The Lesbian Herstory Archives, located at 484 Fourteenth Street in Brooklyn, as an Individual Historic Landmark. It is the first individual landmark in Brooklyn designated for its LGBTQ+ associations.
Visit Pen + Brush
Pen + Brush is a 127-year-old publicly supported not-for-profit fighting for gender equity in the arts. P+B provides a platform to showcase the work of women, non-binary and female-identified transgender artists and writers to a broader audience with the ultimate goal of effecting real change within the marketplace. Currently on view, The Ripening.
Visit The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange
Founded in 1854, The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run craft and gift shop supporting independent craftspeople from Brooklyn and beyond.. The Brooklyn Women’s Exchange is a member of the National Federation of Women’s Exchanges.
Monument Women Created a Virtual Women’s Rights Trail
It is so important to learn about and honor the diverse contributions of New York City women to the advancement of women’s rights. Use this map of the five boroughs to find and visit — either virtually or in-person — locations where women’s history was made! This initial map will expand to include more women in all the boroughs. Historians, librarians, educators and the public will help develop and enlarge the future scope of the Trail.
Shahzia Sikander: Havah…to breathe, air, life in Madison Square Park + Courthouse Rooftop
Significant new works on the theme of justice by artist Shahzia Sikander exploring female representation in monuments. The installations are placed tin Madison Square Park as on the rooftop of the neighboring Courthouse across the street.
Portia Munson: The Pink Bedroom at Museum of Sex
Here the artist explores everyday items that pose questions about mass consumerism, constructions of femininity and sexual objectification, as well as the many, often conflicting, expectations we put on the production and consumption of the female body.
Visit a Monument on Roosevelt Island Honoring Journalist Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was an American journalist with a focus on the lives of working women, wiring a series of investigative articles on women factory workers and other important issues of the day including the Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913 for the New York Evening Journal. The article’s headline was “Suffragists Are Men’s Superiors” and in its text, she accurately predicted that it would be 1920 before women in the U.S. would be given the right to vote. #GirlPuzzle
Visit Literary Row in Central Park to view Women’s Rights Pioneers
Monumental Women unveiled an art installation celebrating the lives of three women’s rights pioneers ~ Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Additional Monuments in NYC Dedicated to Women
In addition to The Girl Puzzle and Monumental Women’s monument to three women’s rights pioneers, here are a few more monuments to women scattered about our five boroughs.
Need an Artist? Take a Look at the Women Who Draw
Women Who Draw is an open directory of female professional illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by two women artists in an effort to increase the visibility of female illustrators, emphasizing female illustrators of color, LBTQ+, and other minority groups of female illustrators.
#WomensHistoryMonth