About Us
Hi! We’re Athena Project – the Colorado nonprofit that amplifies the work of all women and underrepresented genders through the arts. By providing artists with paid work opportunities, we ensure audiences get to see and hear their work. Since 2012, through our programming and intentional partnerships, we invest in artist development, increase access to professional opportunities and build community by engaging audiences. Our work advances equity in the arts in Denver, Colorado and beyond.
VISION: We envision a world with gender equity, where women’s voices are valued and amplified in the arts. We change the world, one paid underrepresented artist at a time.
MISSION: Athena Project amplifies the voices of all women and underrepresented genders through the arts.
Values:
We value (in order):
1) The inherent power in the artistic voices of all women and underrepresented genders
2) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
3) Equitable access to the arts
4) Equality in opportunities, representation, and pay
5) The creative process
6) The power of art to connect communities
Our Story
Athena Project was set up in 2012 by Angela Astle to close a critical gap in the creative life of the Denver community.
Angela is a Colorado native. She earned her degree in Business and Theatre at the University of Colorado at Denver, and then went on to sharpen her directorial teeth for many years on the stages of New York.
When she returned to Denver in Spring of 2010, Angela began talking to other female artists about creating a female-focused arts festival – and the seed of Athena Project was planted.
Athena began with a series of Plays In Progress – six brand new plays by women playwrights, three local and three from elsewhere in the US. The plays were developed with directors, dramaturgs and actors, and presented as workshop performances in 2012. One play was selected, based on audience responses and feedback from the Athena Board, to be staged as a full production during the very first Athena Project Arts Festival the following March 2013. March was selected as Athena’s Festival month because it’s also Women’s History Month and includes International Women’s Day and International Theatre Day.
Now more than 13 years later, we continue to evolve with programming that meets the needs of artists and audiences in our community.
Why We Need Athena
In the US, and around the world, women have a vibrant and vital presence in the arts – but did you know that right now the huge majority of women working in arts industries are in the least influential roles, with low pay and poor representation?
Overwhelmingly, leadership positions like Stage Directors, Museum Chiefs, Movie Directors, Cinematographers, Choreographers, Music Producers, Head Designers, Featured Artists … are still dominated by men.
Which means women’s voices, influences and ideas are being systematically muffled.
That’s why Athena Project celebrates and nurtures women’s artistic expression – and works actively for equality of opportunity, recognition and pay based on artistic merit.
Because enabling women’s artistic voices to be powerfully expressed alongside men’s is not just good for women – it builds a healthy society for everyone. The richer the weave of ideas around us, the stronger the fabric of our communities. Which means a more connected, less polarized, safer and happier world for us all.
What Athena Does
Athena Project amplifies the voices of all women and underrepresented genders through the arts by providing them with paid work opportunities while ensuring audiences get to see and hear their artistic works. We change the world, one paid underrepresented artist at a time. Our programs evolve as the political and social landscape changes.
At present, they include: Read & Rant: A Plays in Progress Series, a book club that serves the needs of new playwrights, providing them with readers and dramaturgical support while providing community members with opportunities to support new work. Curating Art for Impact, a collaboration with or on behalf of community partners, providing unique experiential art such as pop-up performances which elevate and amplify their missions while uplifting and paying women artists. Girls Create, summer intensive week-long camps for middle school girls and nonbinary youth exploring various art forms, and periodic Artfully Minded workshops, unleashing creativity for girls and nonbinary youth to lead and effect change in themselves and others through creative learning.
We also host Social Media Campaigns year-round to create awareness around topics impacting us all while uplifting the work of artists. We spark creative community conversations within the following campaigns: #HealingthroughtheArts, #PayEquityintheArts, #ReproductiveJustice, and #WomenCrushWednesday.