OCAP Financial Report on Dinner Party LOCAL

By Linda Jane

Now that Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party has noved on, it's time to do our own retrospective. What have we gained? The intangible gains aren't quanifiable. For thousands, the exhibit was an opportunity o learn about women's history and to appreciate tradiional "women's crafts". For the hundreds of women and men who were instrumental in bringing the exhibit and overseeing its stay here, it provided additional earning experiences, such as the organizational and business skills needed to operate and finance the ex-

66 Judy Chicago's

Dinner Party

is a monument to womankind,

a feast for the eyes and the intellect

John Perrisult

M.Y. Baha Haus

Judy Chicago. 1979

This monumental work of art celebrates the achievements and contributions of women to Western Civilization.

hibit, and the carpentry, plumbing, electrical and other skills necessary to prepare and maintain the exhibit. site.

The tangible gains have the potential for ever broader impact. When the Ohio-Chicago Art Project (O-CAP) formed in 1980 to bring The Dinner Party, one of its goals was to raise money' to aid womencentered service and cultural organizations in Northern Ohio. O-CAP's hopes were based on a projected attendance of 2,000 people a week for 13 weeks, or a total of 26,000. This goal appeared overly optimistic two months after the opening; the average attendance from May 10 through June 30 was only two-thirds of the 2,000 per week projection. Fortunately, the picture changed dramatically during the final weeks of the exhibit. Word of mouth, an intensive media campaign, numerous reviews and a six-day extension boosted attendance figures to over 600 people per day in August. By the end of the exhibit, 28,710 women, men and children had visited The Dinner Party.

Ticket sales totalling almost $81,000 accounted for only a part of the revenues generated by The Dinner Party, Fundraising revenues of over $101,000 (including $40,000 in foundation grants and over $33,000 in sponsorships), books, posters, and other exhibit sales of almost $80,000, and other revenues brought this total to over $271,000. Against this total were approximately $201,000 in expenses, including about $30,000 in salaries for the director, PR person, administrative manager, bookkeeper and other staff, and operating (or non-personnel) expenses of over $170,000. The latter included $17,000 to Through the Flower, the non-profit organization which owns the exhibit, over $14,000 to rent the exhibit site, about $21,000 in advertising and other publicity, and $47,000 to purchase inventory for the bookstore. The end result is that O-CAP took in about $70,000 more than it spent, which was almost $8,000 under budget. About $18,000 goes back to Through the Flower according to the terms of the contract, leaving O-CAP with a substantial $52,393.96 to work with.

Rather than distribute this money outright, O-CAP has decided to use the Dinner Party proceeds as seed money for a women's foundation. In the meantime, the money has been invested in a highinterest mutual fund. O-CAP is currently in the process of establishing two groups to develop the foundation. A foundation planning committee, consisting of 7 to 15 people, some of whom would be current O-CAP Board members, will develop the scope and structure of the foundation, arrange the legal mat-

.

ters, and suggest à Board of Trustees. The second group, an advisory group composed of people with special skills, contacts, and interests, will serve as a resource for the planning committee.

O-CAP estimates that it will take the planning

NEWS

committee a year to develop its proposals for the foundation, at which time it will present, them to the O-CAP Board. Once a plan is approved and the foundation has legally incorporated and has a Board, O-CAP, having served its purpose, will dissolve..

TBN Protests Violence Against Women

By Linda Jane

"We are marching together to say to each other and the community at large that we will no longer tolerate victimization because we were born female...that we will no longer accept the edict that we cannot be on the street whenever and with whomever we choose without being subject to attack or threat...that we will no longer let someone else' have control of our bodies and sexuality...that we will no longer give up our right to economic independence...that we will no longer accept sexism in the workplace, media, and education...and that we will no longer let a $41⁄2 billion a year [pornography] industry that exploits women with violence exist."

With these strong words, over 100 women joined together in the third annual Cleveland Take Back the Night March on October 24. Beginning at the Student Union of Cleveland State University, marchers chanted their way down East 22nd Street, past the porn shops on Prospect, and back up East 18th Street för a rally at the CSU Law School. There representatives of various reproductive rights organizations, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, ERA N.O.W., and other women's groups distributed literature. The march was one of several across the country

tuguese, Chinese and English-speaking communities. In Rochester, a group of 400 women took over the city's main intersection, and the more militant marchers spray-painted the windows of porn shops.

The Cleveland march, organized by just. five women in a short period of time, drew a small but enthusiastic and courageous group. It provided a common ground for local women to express their outrage as victims of violence. Unfortunately, it did not offer any concrete direction for that outrage: Last year, the Take Back the Night Collective followed up the march with a fairly successful campaign to improve security on RTA. As a result of the Collective's efforts, RTA now requires that all drivers take rape crisis training.

Cleveland Women Against Violence, one group organizing around the issue of violence against women, presented a slide show at the rally following the march. Well-scripted, the show is designed to educate women and men about the woman hatred expressed in pornography and other media and to encourage us to refuse to accept pornography by such tactics as boycotts and pickets. Visually, the show is a barrage of demeaning kiddie and adult hardand soft-core porn. Without some very specific "Where do we go from here?" plans of action, however, the

PORNOGRAPHY

NOT

EROTIC

'this past summer and fall. The purpose of the mar'ches is two-fold: to focus public attention on the 'violence directed against women on the streets, in the home, on the job, and in the media; and to celebrate the efforts of individual women and women's groups to end that violence. Probably the largest 1981 Take Back the Night march was held in Boston, where over 6,000 women from six different areas of the city converged for a rally with speakers from the Latina, Por-

pp

Photo by C. P. Clark

show can leave you feeling more disgusted and powerless than ever. For more information about the group, call 523-1875.

If you would like to see Take Back the Night become a more viable, ongoing organization once again, or if you would like to get a headstart on planning next year's march, the Take Back the Night Collective welcomes your suggestions and participation. Call Sandy at 566-932% after 6:00 p.m. weekdays.

November 1981/What She Wants/Fale 3