Project celebrates women in the arts

More than 200 arts and cultural organizations and individual artists are gathering under the same thematic umbrella this spring, thanks to a statewide endeavor called Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts.

The concept is simple: From March through June, any arts organization -- large or small, rural or urban, for-profit or not-for-profit -- that mounts an exhibit or holds an event in keeping with the theme can receive free promotion through the Minds Wide Open program. So far, more than 360 events have been identified.

"Nothing of this scale has ever been done before," Susan Hirschbiel, chairwoman of Minds Wide Open, said of the initiative. The idea was conceived two years ago by a collective of major arts organizations in Virginia and was put into motion with help from the Virginia Commission for the Arts. "We had to build it into something that we didn't even know what it was really going to look like."

Choosing women in the arts as a unifying theme was a way to make it easy for any organization or artist to participate. "We wanted it not to cost anybody anything [extra], but to garner, out of strength in numbers, awareness," Hirschbiel said.

"People don't see the arts as an industry," said Peggy Baggett, executive director of the state commission. Minds Wide Open is meant to raise awareness of "how much [the arts] contributes to the quality of life, the economy, the educational system" in Virginia.

The second major goal of Minds Wide Open is to strengthen networks among arts organizations by encouraging creative partnerships. Collaboration is crucial in hard times, said Baggett, but at any time "it's very important to work with one another on common projects." In this way, arts organizations "see the value of presenting themselves together."

"This is a response to how to do more with less money," Hirschbiel said.

The project was seeded with $25,000 from the state commission. Further funding has come from private corporations and foundations, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation is a project partner. In addition to a Web site, Minds Wide Open provides marketing tools and logistical support.

First lady Maureen McDonnell and all of Virginia's living former first ladies have agreed to be honorary chairwomen of Minds Wide Open and will appear at designated kickoff events across the state. In Richmond, that event is the March 20 Masterworks concert by the Richmond Symphony. Erin Freeman will conduct two compositions by female composers; violinist Tai Murray is the featured soloist.

Hirschbiel said the hope is to repeat this statewide effort every two years. "One of the most important things going forward is to make sure we have measures of success." For instance, participating organizations are tracking attendance.

Working on this project for the first time has not been hard, Hirschbiel said. "Everyone involved has worked very collaboratively. It has been a great pleasure."

Angela Lehman-Rios can be contacted at angelalehmanrios@yahoo.com

On the Web

Visit Minds Wide Open online at VaMindsWideOpen.org for an event calendar sorted by date, location or event type.