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V-Day Announces V-World Summit, the First Ever International Gathering of V-Day Activists

09/06/2002

Summit to Take Place in Rome, Friday-Saturday September 20-21

Will Strategize Ending Violence Against Women Facilitated by Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler

Academy Award Winning Actress and Activist Jane Fonda and Lifetime President & CEO Carole Black to Attend

September 6, 2002

V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, will hold its first V-World Summit in Rome, Friday-Saturday, September 20-21, it was announced today. At the Summit, more than 25 international V-Day activists, women who have brought a V-Day event, or the V-Day movement, into their cities, communities, countries and cultures, will convene and construct the vision necessary to end violence against women and girls.

NOTE: A press conference is scheduled for the opening of the V-World Summit on Friday, September 20 at 11:30AM. Location TBA. At the press conference, V-Day Founder/Artistic Director Playwright Eve Ensler, V-Counsel member Jane Fonda and the attending activists will unveil V-Day's 2003 vision statement which asks women and men around the world to envision a world without violence and let V-Day become V-World.

V-Day activists from countries including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Democratic Republic Of Congo, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Italy, Kenya, Macedonia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States will strategize through facilitation by V-Day Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler, to make a V-World, a world in which women and girls truly do live without violence. As part of the summit agenda, the activists will discuss their successes to date within their communities, how they can make V-World a part of their 2003 activities, and, more broadly, strategize a 3-year plan to make real movement in ending violence.

Esteemed members of V-Day's newly formed advisory group - known as the V-Counsel - including Academy Award winning actress and activist Jane Fonda and President & CEO Lifetime Entertainment Services Carole Black are scheduled to attend and participate.

The V-Day activists scheduled to attend are: Agnes Pareyio - Narok, Kenya; Winfridah Anyango - Eldoret, Kenya; Janet Kiarie - Nairobi, Kenya; Mary Morten - Chicago, IL, USA; Noelle Colome - San Francisco, CA, USA; Angelina Corbet - Charlotte, NC, USA; Rada Boric - Skopje, Macedonia and Zagreb, Croatia; Nuna Zvizdic - Sarajevo, Bosnia; Mariana Katzarova – Bulgaria; Kevsera Memedova - Skopje, Macedonia; Irene Martine Ndaya Nabote - Lumbabashi, Dem Rep of Congo; Lynne Mausenbaum - Johannesburg, South Africa; Claude Boucher - Paris, France; Marie Cécile Renauld – Paris, France; Tamsin Larby - London, England; Nicoletti Billi - Rome, Italy; Monica Capuani - Rome, Italy; Karin Heisecke – Germany; Monique Wilson - Manila, Philippines; Rossana Abueva - Manila, Philippines; Shabnam Hashmi - Delhi, India; Esther Chavez - Juarez, Mexico; Marsha Lopez - Guatemala City, Guatemala; Zoya - Afghanistan

About V-Day

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a palpable energy, a fierce catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop worldwide violence against women and girls including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual slavery. V-Day provides funding to create and nurture innovative programs to stop the violence.

Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities.

V-Day itself stages large-scale benefits and promotes innovative gatherings and programs (The Afghan Women's Summit, The Stop Rape Contest, Indian Country Project, and more) to change social attitudes towards violence against women. In 2002, more than 800 V-Day benefit events were presented by local volunteer activists around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls.

The V-Day movement is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world. V-Day, a non-profit corporation, distributes funds to grassroots, national, and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day was named one of Worth Magazine's "100 Best Charities" in 2001. In its first five years, the V-Day movement has raised over $14 million, with over $7 million raised in 2002 alone.

The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

Contact: Susan Celia Swan +1 (212) 445-3288