100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN 2021 Conversation Series Announced

Park Avenue Armory has announced the 100 Years | 100 Women Conversation Series in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a continuation of the 100 Years | 100 Women initiative celebrating the centennial of the 19th Amendment's ratification granting some women the right to vote. Beginning Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12pm, these free, virtual, moderated conversations invite partner institutions and multidisciplinary groups of commissioned participants to informal, lunchtime chats. During this series, they will continue the discussion of the complex legacy of the 19th Amendment and the ongoing struggle towards universal women's suffrage through specific topics that resonate with the Project and are responsive to the complexities and turbulence of the pandemic era. Participants in the Conversation Series include: Murielle Borst-Tarrant, Rashida Bumbray, Caridad "La Bruja" De La Luz, Karen Finley, Andrea Jenkins, Shola Lynch, Toshi Reagon, Martha Redbone, Split Britches, Marilee Talkington, and Imani Uzuri.

The first conversation entitled "Power of the Vote: Legacy of the 19th Amendment" will take place on Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12pm and will reflect on the long arc of women's movements and voter turnout efforts, successes and challenges of the 2018 and 2020 elections, and ongoing trials of pandemic survival. Conversations will be streamed live on YouTube with live ASL translation and closed captioning. Each conversation will feature a Native Welcome recorded by Henu Josephine Tarrant (Ho-Chunk/Hopi/Rappahannock) and a Closing Song recorded by Martha Redbone (Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw/African American). Subsequent conversations will occur every two weeks through August 2021, marking the end of the centennial year. Themes for future conversations include: "Women's Empowerment: Then and Now," "Uplifting Underrepresented Stories of Women," "Solidarity and Allyship," "Gender and Gender Inclusivity," and many others. Full schedule below.

Participants in the Conversation Series were invited by Park Avenue Armory and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with the nine other New York City cultural institutions that form the Project Partner group, including: Apollo Theater; The Juilliard School; La Mama Experimental Theatre Club; The Laundromat Project; Museum of the Moving Image; National Black Theatre; National Sawdust; New York University (Department of Photography and Imaging, Tisch School of the Arts; Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation; and Institute of African American Affairs and Center for Black Visual Culture); and Urban Bush Women.

All episodes in the 100 Years | 100 Women Conversation Series will be archived on the 100 Years | 100 Women Project website. Information about partner institutions and participants, access to YouTube Livestream links, and archived videos of the conversations will be accessible through the digital archive found at www.100years100women.net/conversations-series.

ABOUT 100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN

The 100 Years | 100 Women project began in February 2020 to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave some but not all women the right to vote. The initiative began with the Armory's annual Culture in a Changing America symposium, convening artists, activists, scholars, and civic and cultural leaders for a day of conversations, performances, and salons reflecting on womanhood, citizenship, intersectional feminism, and the myriad ways in which artists navigate these issues. Collectively, the eleven partner institutions nominated 100 artists, activists, scholars, students, and community leaders to respond to the centennial with new works to be presented as part of a gathering, showcase, and celebration originally scheduled to take place in the Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall this past spring.

With the unforeseen impacts of COVID-19, which led to the cancellation of this in-person culminating event, the project and many of the commissioned works evolved to respond to the volatile times in which it was created. 100 Years | 100 Women commissions were inevitably shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, #BlackLivesMatter, and a divisive 2020 election season. In lieu of the in-person celebration of the commissions that was planned for the spring, the Armory hosted an online launch party streamed on YouTube on August 18, featuring clips of select commissioned works, remarks by artists and partner organizations, and appearances by special guests including Maya Wiley, Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, and the Kasibahagua Taíno Cultural Society. The event also included the premiere of a short film by Armory/Museum of the Moving Image-commissioned filmmaker Shola Lynch documenting the inspirations and processes behind the participants' contributions, as well as the ways in which the issues of the current moment have informed their work.

This launch party also celebrated the public opening of the 100 Years | 100 Women Project Archive, where all 100 commissioned artists display their commissioned work and information about their process. This archive has continued to be updated as a living representation of the project in all its forms. To explore the archive, please visit www.100years100women.net.

100 Years | 100 Women is part of the Armory's Interrogations of Form conversation series, which unites artists, thought leaders, and social trailblazers for creative, multi-dimensional explorations of today's social and cultural landscape.

100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN 2021 CONVERSATION SERIES

A collaboration between Park Avenue Armory and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

POWER OF THE VOTE: LEGACY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT

Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12pm

The 2021 100 Years | 100 Women Conversation Series kicks off with reflections on the long arc of the women's and "get out the vote" movements, the successes and challenges of the 2018/2020 elections, and the ongoing trials of pandemic survival from Andrea Jenkins (Artist and Minneapolis City Council Member), Kate Clarke Lemay (Historian, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian), and Hannah Rosenzweig (Director and Producer, Surge Film Project). Hosted by Suhaly Bautista-Carolina (Senior Managing Educator, Audience Development and Engagement, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Avery Willis Hoffman (Program Director, Park Avenue Armory).

UPLIFTING UNDERREPRESENTED STORIES OF WOMEN

Friday, May 14, 2021 at 12pm

Drawing on each of their distinct practices and experiences bringing unique and powerful stories to the public eye, Diana Elizabeth Jordan (Actor and Artivist), Sade Lythcott (CEO, National Black Theatre), Jewel Rodgers (Spoken Word Artist), and Sahar Ullah (Founder and Head Writer, Hijabi Monologues Project) will discuss the need for consistent and accessible platforms for underrepresented stories of and by women. Hosted by Shirine Saad (Interim Programming Director, National Sawdust).

ART AND DISABILITY ADVOCACY

Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 2pm

Thirty-one years since the passing of the American Disabilities Act (1990), society continues to struggle with providing exemplary access to live events, creative projects, and digital platforms for disabled, differently abled, and neurodiverse audience members. Disability advocates and artists Christine Bruno, Sofiya Cheyenne, Diana Elizabeth Jordan, and Marilee Talkington discuss these issues and the added challenges of the pandemic era with host, Dr. Lisa Coleman (Inaugural Senior Vice President, Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation and Chief Diversity Officer, New York University).

FREEDOM AND LIBERATION

Friday, June 11, 2021 at 12pm

In a period of lockdowns and complete cancellation of work, when artists have struggled to gain access to studios, maintain creative practices, and maintain steady income streams, striving towards personal and professional liberation feels perhaps the hardest challenge of all. Gayle Fekete (Movement-Maker), Andrea Jennings (Disability Inclusion Advocate for the Arts), and Risha Rox (Interdisciplinary Artist) reflect on these challenges and more with host Ayesha Williams (Deputy Director, The Laundromat Project).

GENDER AND GENDER INCLUSIVITY

Friday, June 25, 2021

Andrea Jenkins (Artist and Minneapolis City Council Member), pioneering politician and curator of the Transgender Oral History Project, returns to the series to engage in a conversation with Catherine D'Ignazio (Scholar of feminist technology, data literacy, and civic engagement, MIT), and Imani Uzuri (Vocalist, Composer, Librettist, and Improviser). Hosted by Suhaly Bautista-Carolina (Senior Managing Educator, Audience Development and Engagement, The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

ART AND PANDEMIC SURVIVAL: PIVOTING TO VIRTUAL/DIGITAL

Friday, July 16, 2021 at 12pm

Stephanie Berger (Photographer), Caridad "La Bruja" De La Luz (Spoken Word Artist), Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver (Split Britches) exchange stories of resilience and art-making through the pandemic era with host Avery Willis Hoffman (Program Director, Park Avenue Armory).

THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF WOMEN OF COLOR IN FILM AND TELEVISION

Friday, July 30, 2021 at 12pm

Shola Lynch (Documentary Film Director and Curator of the Moving Image and Recorded Sound, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture) and Warrington Hudlin (Film Producer and Vice Chairman, Museum of the Moving Image) explore the long and impressive, but often overlooked, legacy of black women in the film and television industry. In the lead-up to the conversation, watch Part One of the CineFemme Cypher, filmed during the 100 Years | 100 Women Symposium in February 2020.

WOMEN AND THE THEATER: INDIGENEITY

Friday, August 13, 2021 at 12pm

Murielle Borst-Tarrant (Playwright, Director, Educator, Human Rights Activist) and Henu Josephine Tarrant (Playwright, Songwriter) share experiences of creating theater projects with their company, Safe Harbors Indigenous Collective, that elevate native and indigenous stories and challenge damaging stereotypes in the theater and film industries.

THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS: WHAT DO ARTISTS NEED NOW?

Friday, August 27, 2021 at 12pm

The arts ecosystem is in deep crisis as the result of the pandemic and rigid structures that have not evolved with the times. What can artists do to re-imagine a mutually beneficial system or subvert the old systems that consistently fail artists and arts workers? What do artists need to charge through these turbulent times? Karen Finley (Visual Artist), Michele Pred (Conceptual Artist, The Art of Equal Pay Project), Toshi Reagon (Singer, Composer, Musician, Curator, Producer, and Civic Practice Partnership Artist in Residence at The Met), and Imani Uzuri (Vocalist, Composer, Librettist, and Improviser), debate these topics, and more, with Avery Willis Hoffman (Program Director, Park Avenue Armory).