Jessica Thrift writes:

First-Ever Festival for Gender Equality
Brooklyn, NY, Ausust 27, 2006

Brooklyn to Host First-Ever Festival for Gender Equality!
Connect! Create! Educate!
(August 27, 2006 * 11am – 4pm)

In a world where boys are still made fun of for wanting to jump double-dutch and girls are still kicked off the basketball courts because they might “break a nail” while playing, Girls for Gender Equity is proud to organize the first New York City Festival for Gender Equality on August 27th 11am – 4pm. Open to all New Yorkers, it will be held at Von King Park in Brooklyn, NY and feature entertainment by musicians, spoken word artists, and theater performers; workshops and other fun activities for children and adults; free food and giveaways; and appearances from local politicians. Over 50 community organizations will participate including Brooklyn Children's Museum, Forest Hills Community House, Global Action Project, Loisaida, New York Police Department, Planned Parenthood, Schomburg Center, Street Harassment Project, and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.

The Gender Equality Festival is a free public event for education, networking, resource sharing, community interaction, arts and recreation. Workshops on a wide variety of topics – responding to street harassment, media literacy, HIV/AIDS, communicating with your child, youth leadership, yoga, health care access, democratic education and more – will be offered throughout the day to children and adults. The Grand Street Campus girls’ soccer team will lead a mother-daughter soccer clinic, where girls and their sisters, mothers, cousins, friends, aunts and grandmothers are all invited to learn basic skills and then show them off in a short game.Representing local politics at the event are Councilwoman Helen Sears, Democratic Senate nominee Jonathan Tasini, Democratic Congressional candidate Chris Owens, Green Party Lt Governor candidate Alison Duncan, and State Senator Carl Andrews (D). Not to be missed are performances by hip hop artist Carlethal, poet and educator Piper Anderson, singer/songwriter Chris Pureka, activist dance and theater group Zany Angels, queer youth performers Generation Q, Palestinian stand-up comedian and co-founder of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival Maysoon Zayid, and the folk-hip hop hybrid sounds of Mahogany. The afternoon will wind down with a surprise keynote political speaker and a nationally known performer!

All attendees will receive a gift from one of the Festival Sponsors, which include Akademics, American Girl, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Brownstone Books, Candle Café, Eva Scrivo Salon, Finetune Pilates Studio, Harriet's Alter Ego, Madame Tussauds NY, Museum of Television & Radio, Palacinka, Pretty Tough Sports, Regal Entertainment, Road's End Organics, St. Marks Bookshop, The Home Spa, Tazo Teas, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company.

- For more details or to RSVP for this event, contact Jessica at 718-857-1393 or intern@gges.info

http://www.gges.info/latest-news.php

Subway: G to Bedford-Nostrand
Bus: B43, B44, B38