ladyfest edinburgh 09: what's the scoop?

Move over Edinburgh Fringe, Ladyfest is back in town. More bijou than last years month long extravaganza, but still the same great tasting feminist flavours.

The weekend events explode with the arrival of Sister Spit: The Next Generation. The tour is hitting the road again, with a whole new all-girl lineup of zinesters, fashion plates, novelists, performance artists, slam poets and fancy scribblers. Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hauling a vanload of killer underground female talent across the USA and into the bosom of Ladyfest Edinburgh. Take a peek behind The Big Red Door for this eagerly awaited pageant and fall headlong into the ramblin' roadshow.

Saturday is no day for takin' it easy either, lace up yer pussy pumps and head down to The Bowery for an afternoon of punk knitting, naked men (see Life Drawing), skill share, singing, self love dancing, stand up comedy with Sian Bevan, theatre combat, lotions, potions and commotions. To add to this heavy brew, Ladyfest have been collaborating with various young folks youth groups throughout the city in a visual arts project and some of the work will be on show for one day only before it goes on tour. The main aim of this project was to make stronger connections with our local community, debunk some of the stuffy myths of art and get young folk expressing themselves creatively through the visual arts.

Saturday leaks into night with a small pause for breath before The Bowery doors are opened again to a night of performance and music. Featuring the ultimate sticky fixative Sellotape, and the bilingual mixture of sound poetry and storytelling with megaphones of Zorras. (other acts still tbc)

"Think Kleenex or The Delta Five, with an in-built ramshackleness tempered by a vocal style betraying a smidgen of Siouxsie Sioux..." Neil Cooper, The List

"The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny" The Skinny

Our lazy Ladyfest Sunday afternoon goes for a gallery walk and coffee stop to sit with pinkies poised and napkins ready to catch spat out cake crumbs and hot liquid as all are invited to wander and talk about women in art, past present and future. The weekend finishes with a film at the brass monkey. See our website for further details.

Ladyfest has been conducting itself underground all year so a quick update on us. This will be the second Ladyfest to be organised by people living in Edinburgh, building on the heritage of over 100 Ladyfests around the world since 2000: non-profit, feminist events organised mainly by women and platforms for the talents of female artists and performers. The events are mainly focused on encouraging the talent of women and girls, but are open to everyone.

Ladyfest is an idea not an ideology. The main aim of Ladyfest Edinburgh is to create an alternative space for the celebration of female creativity. The future of Ladyfest will be built on our need to grasp this free space and continue to make women more visible in the arts, culture and society.

For further information and pictures please contact:
Fiona Watt 0131 557 5869 (Eve and weekends only) or 07891 507716 (day) or
Marylou Anderson at info@ladyfestedinburgh.com



1 Weekend listings are attached below
2 For more information see our website www.ladyfestedinburgh.com
3 There is a facebook group you can join here www.facebook.com/group.php?=7816432651
4 All profits from ladyfest edinburgh will go to local women's charities

Ladyfest Edinburgh Weekend Listings

Comedy night with Sian Bevan, Liz Ely plus guests
Thurs 24th September, Doors 7pm
Communication Union's Workers Club, Brunswick Street, Edinburgh
£4 on the door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket

Sister Spit: The Next Generation
Fri 25th September, Doors open 7pm
The Big Red Door, Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh
£5 on door or purchase a weekend ticket for £10

Youth art project exhibition and a whorl of workshops
Saturday 26th September, Doors 11am-5pm
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
Donation or free with a weekend ticket

Sellotape, Zorras plus guests
Saturday 26th September, Doors 7.30pm - midnight
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
£3 on door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket

Gallery walk and talk about women in art past, present and future
Sunday 27th September
Meeting for 2pm @ The fruitmarket Gallery
Free/

Films @ The Brass Monkey (see website for film details), From 8pm
Sunday 27th September
The Brass Monkey, Drummond Street, Edinburgh
Free/donations accepted