The 40th Annual Women in the Arts Festival to Bring Music, Art and Connection to East Lansing

The 40th annual Women In The Arts Festival will bring music, a silent auction, an artists’ market and more to Edgewood United Church in East Lansing the next couple of days, as the festival kicks off today at 5 p.m. 

Since 1986, the festival, previously known as Circe Productions, has been promoting women in both performing and visual arts, as well as providing a safe space for women to gather in community. 

Doors for the two-day festival will open at 5 p.m. tonight, Friday, Nov. 7, and then at 10 a.m. tomorrow. 

Julie Haan, who serves as the treasurer on the Women in the Arts Festival board, has been involved with the organization since 2007. Her early years of involvement included volunteering to help set up and clean up the festival, then she sat on the planning board and created the artwork for early logos. 

“I like the whole idea and spirit behind it…you really get that sense of community, it’s kind of magical in a way,” Haan said. 

The festival has many features, including an artists’ market, musical and dance performances, spoken word poetry and lesbo bingo. 

Over the last decade, there’s been a boom in the number of attendees, Haan believes this is because of a partnership with Ten Pound Fiddle, an organization that hosts music concerts and dances.

Years ago, the festival would overlap with events Ten Pound Fiddle had. That’s when the two organizations decided to come together and co-sponsor performances. 

“Because of that relationship, it’s brought a whole new group of people that might not otherwise have come to Women In The Arts,” Haan said.

This year’s festival will feature night stage performances by an all-women Detroit Jazz band, Straight Ahead, and The Rebel Eves, a feminist group whose music is a mix of Americana, folk and soul. 

Night stage performances require a ticket purchase, but Haan said that the festival doesn’t turn anyone away and works with those who can’t afford a ticket to ensure they can participate.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” Haan said. “So if someone really wants to be apart and listen to music, we work with everybody on that.”

Day stage performances include Megan Dooley, The Instigators, Sistrum, a Lansing Women’s Chorus, and HappenDance.

With the festival’s increased popularity, Haan is proud they are able to pay the day stage performers when previously the festival relied on volunteers to perform during the day. 

“We’ve been able to support everybody, which has been really good, and that happens because of the donations that we get from people and their attendance at the paid concerts,” Haan said. 

In line with the theme of community support, the Women in the Arts Festival will be donating 40% of proceeds to support two local organizations: The Women’s Center of Greater Lansing and cultural center Casa De Rosado. 

The Sistrum Cafe, made up of members of the Sistrum Chorus, will provide food out of the commercial kitchen housed in the Edgewood United Church.

The menu has evolved over the years. It started small with just nachos, then vegetable soup, to multiple dishes and a variety of options. This year’s menu includes white chicken chili, quiche, beef sloppy janes, sweet potato and spinach stew, baked goods, spanakopita, and a Lebanese platter. 

“We go based on customer feedback, but we have some recipes that have stood the test of time,” Bess German, co-chair of the Sistrum cafe, said. 

On Friday, Sistrum will cook dinner and on Saturday they’ll cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In between serving on the Saturday, the women of the Sistrum Chorus will take a break to perform on stage. 

Each semester at Sistrum has a different theme that the music typically is centered around. The current theme is body image. 

“A lot of the music is centered around acceptance of yourself, acceptance of your body and feelings around your body,” Emma Baker, former president on the Sistrum board of directors said. 

The Women in the Arts festival is free to attend during the day, and tickets for night stage performances can be purchased here.