Vagina Conversations returns for its 10th year

THE long-running Vagina Conversations event series returns with its 10th iteration at the Brunswick Picture House.

From March 13-16, the inclusive festival of diverse women and people with vaginas from all walks of life will showcase the collective of local voices with powerful stories to inform, educate, entertain and support.

The event is a contemporary evolution of the Vagina Monologues. Performers use spoken word, dance, music, song and comedy to share their personal, professional and cultural experiences to inspire and empower themselves and others.

Creator and Mistress of Ceremonies Zenith Virago said the powerful, political, educational and universal series had started as a simple idea.

“I knew we have enough great women in our community who could tell their stories,” she said.

“It feels incredible to be in the 10th year and still be offering this extraordinary show featuring 10 new women each year.

“They are stories of survival, thriving and overcoming.”

Virago attributes the longevity of the event to shared collective experience and universality.

“People are inspired and often healed by witnessing the courage of others,” she said.

“It’s an essential platform because these stories need to be told. They are acts of great courage, and women can no longer be kept silent.”

All proceeds go to the Women’s Resource Service – Byron Escape Fund and the Tweed DVIRC Impact Fund supporting local women escaping intimate partner and family violence.

The event has raised $123,000 to date, and attendance and funds have grown yearly. A feature event will be held on Byron Bay’s Main Beach on February 14. The 13th V-Day Protest Dance invites women, men, non-binary and children to wear red and gather at dawn in solidarity to dance in defiance.

“One Billion Rising is human history’s biggest mass action to end violence,” Virago said.

“Every February 14 we rise up locally and globally to show our local communities and the world that ‘enough is enough.”

For tickets, visit brunswickpicturehouse.com/vagina-conversations-10-13-16-mar