Accountability in Action

The Supreme Court has endorsed the wrenching away of these rights with no regard for the chaos that will result.  Will there be help for all of the workers who have provided this essential medical care who are currently without jobs?  Will medical providers now face prison time?  Will there be legislation that funds assistance for those mothers who are forced to give birth to fetuses who have no chance to survive more than a few days after birth?  Will women now face being stripped of their fundamental right to access birth control?  

Our hearts go out to the following people especially:

• Women enroute to get an abortion Friday who were told they can’t and all the women counting on it in the coming days whose appointment got canceled.
• People providing care at abortion clinics in Mississippi, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee who are now out of a job.
• Women and GIRLS who are being raped or molested right this minute who may be getting pregnant and will be forced to carry that child to term. (According to RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, an American is sexually assaulted EVERY 68 SECONDS).
• Pregnant people carrying a non-viable fetus whose own health is at risk and are unable to get care–and all women of color whose maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is already 3x higher than white women.
• Those unable to afford time off work or without funds to travel to states where abortion is still legal.
• Doctors who put their patients first and can no longer live up to their oath to care for patients without risking imprisonment.
• Women who have been raped or molested and were able to choose whether to have an abortion and the emotions they must be feeling….their daughters now have fewer rights than they did!
• Every currently pregnant person who miscarries and is now subject to “investigation” on how that pregnancy was terminated.
• All of the activists and nonprofits who have been warning, no, screaming, that this was coming, who know there are many more marches to organize and more fighting to be done. And how tired they already are.
• The additional burden on health care providers and mental health workers to support all of the women (and men and families) listed above.

If you are as enraged as we are, please reach out.  We believe in the power of arts to heal and create empathy.  We know firsthand the power of women artists sharing their beliefs and fighting for justice.  For activists who attended the recent rallies, share your signs! Tag @AthenaProjectArts and use #AthenainAction. For artists creating in the #ReproductiveJustice space, share your work. We will share it, highlight it, make introductions where we can to various leaders in our community to amplify your voice;

And to the people who are reading this who might be non-artists:  Your job is simple.  Turn OUTRAGE into ENGAGE. Let it fuel you. Don’t look away. Don’t think that it doesn’t affect you – it does.  It affects us all.  Vote in the mid-terms and vote in your local elections. And DONATE to organizations to support the ongoing fight for women’s rights: 

COLOR

Planned Parenthood of the Rockies

SisterSong

Thank you to Colorado Congresspeople who led the way in April to help secure Colorado’s right to reproductive health care, including abortion:  Senator Rhonda Fields, Senator Julie Gonzales, and Jessie Danielson just to name a few of HB 22-1279 supporters.

In the words of fellow arts activist organization, WAM Theatre, “Today we grieve alongside you; tomorrow we will continue to work.”

Land Acknowledgement:

We invite you to join us in recognizing and acknowledging that we are on the ancestral homelands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Nations and Peoples. Our intent with this acknowledgement is to create awareness around and invite others to take action to support indigenous communities. Acknowledgement is a simple, powerful way of showing respect, honoring the truth, and a step toward correcting the practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture.  In addition, since our activities are shared digitally to the internet, let’s also take a moment to consider the legacy of colonization embedded within the technologies, structures, and ways of thinking that we use every day. We are using equipment and high-speed internet which may not be available in many Indigenous communities. Even the technologies that are central to much of the art we make can leave significant carbon footprints, contributing to changing climates that disproportionately affect indigenous peoples worldwide. We invite you to join us in reflecting upon our roles in reconciliation, decolonization, and allyship.

Learn more about land acknowledgements: https://usdac.us/nativeland

#HonorNativeLand

March 24, 2021

Statement on loss of life in Boulder

It is heart-wrenching that in the course of a single week, we are experiencing another senseless tragedy in our own community. We wish to give voice to those who are no longer with us because of this horrific event. Rather than further discuss the shooter, we wish to amplify what we have learned about the innocent bystanders who lost their lives on Monday.  

Denny Stong, 20

Neven Stanisic, 23

Rikki Olds, 25

Tralona Bartkowiak, 49

Teri Leiker, 51

Eric Talley, 51

Suzanne Fountain, 59

Kevin Mahoney, 61

Lynn Murray, 62

Jody Waters, 65

As an organization that exists to amplify the voices of women in the arts, we can’t help but take a moment to recognize fellow artists who are known and beloved in the Colorado creative community:  

Suzanne Fountain, 59, an actress who was part of the Denver and Boulder community theatre scene. Lynn Murray, 62, was a former photo editor whose work had appeared in the nation’s top fashion magazines such as Glamour, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. Tralona Bartkowiak, 49, ran a local clothing boutique with her sister that catered to the music festival crowd. Jody Waters, 65, worked at and owned various clothing boutiques at Boulder’s iconic Pearl Street Mall. 

We encourage you to take a moment to learn more about the victims’ lives via the links provided below. We mourn the loss of each individual as well as the loss of their ideas, their creations, and the lives they could have touched. 

To learn more about them:  

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/23/980413396/heres-what-we-know-about-the-victims-of-the-boulder-shooting 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/23/victims-boulder-shooting/?itid=lk_inline_manual_136 

Grief for these families cannot be approached with words alone. In solidarity, we ask those of you who can to make a donation to the Colorado Healing Fund in honor of the victims. Their families need our empathy, our support and our love.

Finally, if you need help processing these recent events or know someone struggling with their mental health, please contact:  

Colorado Crisis Services
Call 1-844-493-TALK (8255)
Or Text “TALK” to 38255
https://coloradocrisisservices.org

We want to take a moment to honor the lives of those who were tragically lost.

Hyun Jung Grant, 51 

Xiaojie Tan, 49

Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33

Yong Ae Yue, 63

Suncha Kim, 69

Soon Chung Park, 74

Daoyou Feng, 44

Delaina Ashley Yaun, 54

Please take a moment to learn more about these women. Remember their names and their lives. They matter.