Viewing page 37 of 42

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

have developed departments and degree programs. 

Female educators in these programs often find themselves restricted by the established tradition of sexism in academia, and subject to budget cutbacks, struggle for tenure, scorn from their colleagues and censorship of their subject matter. Despite the limitations these programs face, they open the doorways to new learning possibilities for women. If all these facts were omitted from my course of study, one thinks, what else might I have missed?

Small groups of several kinds provide a chance for women to answer that question, a kind of self-help education. The small group has been a basic structure in the feminist movement, as it nurtures an atmosphere of intimacy and trust, and affords women the opportunity to teach and learn from each other and ourselves.

Consciousness raising is a small group structure that furnishes us with an escape from our isolation, our otherness. By sharing personal experiences in a supportive environment, we learn to validate our own perceptions of the world. Individual lives can be put in the context of cultural and political perspectives and we can learn from what we experience.

Study groups form to research and reevaluate existing information. Women who share an interest in a particular topic (e.g. socialism, spirituality, Jewish feminism, lesbian separatism) meet to read, discuss and theorize about that issue. These groups encourage women to think for themselves, to reconceptualize and draw new conclusions. As in C-R, these groups are often leaderless, with participants assuming equal responsibility for the group's development. Similar to these are critique groups, in which artists, writers or performers share their creative work with their peers for feedback, discussion and support.

growth of the feminist movement. Members are encouraged to actively create their own educational process through participation in collaborative art projects, consciousness raising, the formation and experience of community, and the maintenance and survival of the institution itself.

A number of other programs have emerged from the Feminist Studio Workshop:

The Summer Art Program, a 7-week intensive version of the FSW, is offered at the Woman's Building during July and August of each year. It is facilitated by a staff of women who have studied the process of feminist education in the FSW.

The Feminist Educators' Workshop is a week-long summer session by and for women who teach women, examining structures, methods and contents of female-defined education.

The Lesbian Art Project Program of Sapphic Education is a year-long program of classes and workshops beginning in the fall of 1978. Based on a seasonal model, the feminine cycle, the program will investigate, create and make public lesbian culture and sensibility. 

Ariadne, a Social Art Network will be launched in the fall of 1978 to educate women to address a large audience about feminist issues (for example: violence against women), by engaging in collaborative art projects that utilize mass media.

The Extension Program at the Woman's Building offers four eight-week sessions a year, including courses and workshops on women's issues, ideas, experience and skills.

As we take control of our own education, we take control of our futures. Feminist education is expanding the possibilities for women both inside traditional institutions and without, creating new information, theories and methods that challenge the very basis of patriarchal society. By our invention of a feminine cosmology, we are redirecting the destiny of human civilization. 
- Terry Wolverton

To discover the opportunities for your own participation in feminist education in Los Angeles, contact the following:

University of Southern California, 741-2311, call Lilyan Frank, of the Women's Studies Program. She is also a member of the Pacific Southwest Women's Studies Association, and can provide information about other programs available.

N.O.W., 655-3331.

WomonSpace, 399-9813, in Santa Monica.

Gay Community Services Center, 464-7400, ext. 31.

EveryWoman's Village, 873-4406, Van Nuys.

(All of the above offer a number of consciousness-raising, rap groups, and special interest workshops.)

Califia Community, 933-1496, an experience of learning to create feminist community; will hold two week-long sessions for women and children this summer.

The Feminist Studio Workshop, 221-6161, speak with Dana Chalberg for further information about this two-year program for women in the arts.

Feminist Educators' Workshop, 221-6161.

Summer Art Program, 221-6161.

Extension Program at the Woman's Building, call Sue Maberry at 221-6163.

Extension Program at the Woman's Building, call Sue Maberry at 221-6163.

Lesbian Art Project, contact Terry Wolverton at 221-4166.

Ariadne, a Social Art Network, call Suzanne Lacy, 221-6161.

Transcription Notes:
I think this is an image of the bottom half of a page, or something may be covering a few lines--the top of the second line (which begins with the text "growth of the feminist movement. Members are") does not follow directly from the previous sentence.