When I heard that Joie Lamar, best selling author, who has been featured a number of times in the pages of our magazines and on our talk show “On the Couch”, and who I am always proud to call her a good friend, is leading the initiative to launch a day to celebrate women, I had to greatly applaud the effort. We need more cultural and exciting events for women in our community.

Goddess Day will be a celebration of International Women’s Day on March 9. This exciting event is a collaboration with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and will feature women artists, sculptors, photographers, writers, poets, filmmakers, and performers, whom will display or feature their talent throughout the day. The event will be inclusive of anyone who identifies as a woman in the LGBTQ+ community.

I was excited to have a quick chat with Joie about this event.

Really love the idea Joie. In your words what will the day represent?

I hope to bring awareness to women’s strengths on this day. Not just all of the unbelievable talent and creativity that you will experience in this one space but we also want to showcase the diversity of women in society. It’s really an opportunity to reinvigorate before spring.

I know you are busy as it is on a number of fronts, why was it important to you to do this?

We celebrate so many dates, occasions, and historical events that are predominantly male centric, derived, or designed. I feel like there is a shift in the universe and I was driven to celebrate International Women’s Day with something more than a post. Power comes from being seen and heard. Its why politicians campaign. This is part of our campaign. The power of women lighting up this space. Its Goddess Day!

Describe what you feel will be the experience when someone attends. What is happening during the day’s event?

There will be performances every hour, readings every hour, poetry. Women artists of all disciplines will show off their talent in a gallery setting. Women owned businesses will also be able to showcase their services and goods. You can spend 8 hours with us, or just a couple of hours with us, and take it all in…this amazing feminine frequency. There will also be a bar and food to nosh on.

Who are the collaborators? I know no good work happens without a team of good people.

That’s the thing about women, we organize quickly. I put out the idea to key women, leaders in the LGBTQ community, and they all gave me “the blessing”, great ideas, and sage advice. And I am tapping into their collective brilliance throughout. The nitty gritty work is being done by 3 of us. Joining me on this exciting journey are Cat Grant & Natalie Jansz-Lamar, so far.

Cat Grant; you should not do anything in the community without reaching out to Cat, if you want it to be successful, bottom line. She is not only working on our logo and our poster but she is also booking talent and artists for the event. And she is smart, creative, professional and so easy to work with.

Natalie Jansz-Lamar, my wife. Natalie is at the business end of this endeavor. She is logical, very organized, and quite amazing at managing large events. She will keep us to schedule and is solution oriented. Talking about her brilliance or experience will embarrass her so I’ll just say that she meticulous about her work.

This is our first Goddess Day and I cannot imagine a better team to make it happen.

Now the nitty gritty, times, details, tickets, and all that lovely stuff?

Doors open at 2:00pm and Close at 10:00pm. Tickets are $5 and you can spend the day or just come for a few hours, or even go and come back. They are available at the Buddies in Bad Time Theatre box office or online. We will release a formal program detailing performers and exhibits before the day itself but I urge everyone to buy their tickets early. It is going to be an amazing day! It’s going to be Goddess Day.

http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/event/goddess-day/

About the Author

Antoine has on numerous occasions said that everything he does is "a love letter to the LGBTQ community". and he truly loves this community. A 29 years' media and marketing leader, Antoine is the publisher of theBUZZ, The Pink Pages Directory, PinkPlayMags, and a magazine for Durham Region families The Local Biz Magazine, and is the host of talk show "On the Couch". On his off time he is usually involved in community organizations and causes.