Woman Fest Press Releases

 (VETFAMSA), Hudson Valley Hospital Center, Putnam Northern Westchester Women’s Resource Center, Putnam County Tourism, and HerFlix. 

H. G. Fairfield Arts Founder Kathie Freston – a Marine Captain from the Korean War – knows firsthand what an invaluable role women play from local to global communities. For instance, 15.1% of households in New York State are run by single mothers. Over 30% of businesses in NYS are women-owned. Since 2010, the NY State population from the age of 25 to death is 56% female; women are the majority. Women make 80% of household buying decisions in NYS families. And 58.1 % of all business management levels are filled by women. The NYS Department of Labor’s growth patterns show that over the next 20 years the most favorable advancements happen in arts, fitness, healthcare, and self-made careers – the economic impact of the arts in NYS alone is $27.5 billion annually. Ms Freston explains: “We think it important women and girls have the facts in front of them as they figure out their way in life. Following your passion as it turns out does lead to happy healthy careers and lives. Women should know anything’s possible.” H. G. Fairfield Arts’ goal with Woman Fest is to provide the space for women and girls to showcase their strengths and contributions in our societies and in our local, state, and national economies. 

Woman Fest, a two-day festival, being held August 8th and 9th, is open to all, and will feature an Open Mic stage on Thursday 7 to 9pm at the pavilion’s Main Stage Area of the upper level of the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park. The Open Mic Stage gives everyone the chance to show their art – whether spoken word, song, comedy, instrumental, or performance.. The Main Stage Friday August 9 features the powerful world music of the Bethany Yarrow and Rufus Cappadocia Trio and the founder of the first rock-&-roll girl band Fanny – June Millington – still rock-n-rolling into her 5th decade. Local Carmel Central School District teacher and singer/performer Dr. Angelina Mendes and Westchester’s Amy Berkson-Martin, the widow of folk singer/legend Terrence Martin, will also be on the Main Stage. There will be film screenings in the barn, self-defense workshops led by combat veterans and female martial arts Black Belts for women and children , 2 Veteran-Civilian Dialogue events, the HGFairfield BBQ, aerialist shows, pony rides, and more; the growing schedule can be found at www.hgfairfieldarts.org/woman-fest. 

Vendors are made up of women-owned businesses and women-friendly businesses and will be gathered around themed tents such as Woman & Health, Woman & Military Service Tent, Woman & Spirituality Tent, Woman of Color Tent, Woman and the Environment, Woman & Art, Child Care Tent, Drumming Tent, and more, as organizer H. G. Fairfield Arts creates a mini-village open 8am to 10pm Thursday and Friday August 8th & 9th. Events and festivities are still unfolding which reflect the charity work women do, the businesses women run, the health avenues women are trained in, the arts, sport, and cultural prowess of women, as well as the music, spirituality, and power of women. Women are scheduled for speaks and workshops such as Patricia O’Dwyer, President-elect of the New York State Chapter of the National Federation of Democratic Women, along with the Mayor of Newburgh, Judy Kennedy, and the world reknown historian and expert on the 70,000 year-old Neolithic period of Goddess worship, Dr. Cristina Biaggi, PhD, from Palisades, NY. 

Woman Fest will kick off at 8a.m. on Thursday, August 8th (vendor load-in begins Wednesday 10a.m.) and continues until the closing ceremony on Friday, August 9th at 10p.m. August 10th is scheduled as a rain date. Admission is $10 per day for adults and free for children. Overnight camping is $10 and is by preregistration only. Vendors or organizations interested in having a booth at the festival should refer to the vendor form available on http://www.hgfairfieldarts.org/ or call 845-363-1559. Volunteers are welcome. Vendor spaces and opportunities for sponsorship and are still available, with Woman Fest advertising and outreach stretching from Vermont to New Jersey and Connecticut to Pennsylvania. “Celebrating great women is nothing new to Putnam County; we’re reminded of that each time we pass the Sybil Ludington statue in Carmel,” H. G. Fairfield Arts’ President Kim Blacklock points out: “The goal is to bring women from all walks of life, to create the conversations amongst us, to showcase female resourcefulness and creativity, to reveal the positive truths and myriad of possibilities which result when women harness arts, culture, or recreation to create themselves careers and happy productive meaningful lives.” H. G. Fairfield Arts invites everyone to come celebrate mothers, women, children, and our future together.

with barely a ripple, with mega-stars Jennifer Hudson and Annie Leibovitz diligently tending to their respective businesses. At 32 years old, Jennifer Hudson’s net worth is estimated at $15 million. Annie Leibovitz’s net worth, at 63 years old, is estimated at $245 million; she is touted as the world’s highest paid photographer. These two women are examples of the economic power of the arts, of women, and of following your dream that local charitable arts organization H. G. Fairfield is highlighting in their upcoming regional gathering Woman Fest: Celebrating Women.

Woman Fest: Celebrating Women announces Open Mic Competitions to be held 7 to 9 pm each evening of the festival Thursday August 8th and Friday August 9th (rain date August 10). With Bethany Yarrow and Rufus Cappadocia (daughter of Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, & Mary) as headliners Friday August 9th, with a professional stage set up by H. G. Fairfield Arts with sound and lighting by Radovich and Dean Music, with prizes donated by area merchants and more from event sponsors, anyone wanting to celebrate girls and women can come show the world what they’re made of during the festival with a booth & workshops or on Woman Fest’s Open Mic Stages in competition. Winning performances will be broadcast on H. G. Fairfield Arts’ television production on Comcast Channel 8, with options to rebroadcast on other cable stations throughout NYS.

The motion picture and television industry is one example of the economic power of the Arts in New York State and is responsible for 91,608 direct jobs and $8.2 billion in wages in New York, including both production and distribution-related jobs. Nearly 49,000 of the jobs are production-related. “30 % of businesses in NYS are owned by women, women comprise 51.5% of management, professional and related positions in the overall workforce, 55.8% of all mothers with children under the age of 1 are in the labor force, and the economic indicators for labor growth over the next 20 years indicate the highest rankings can be found in self-made careers in the arts, home health care, environmental science, and physical training;” Kim Blacklock, President of H. G. Fairfield Arts relates. Woman Fest and its co-sponsors of Hudson Valley Hospital Center, Veteran Family Support Alliance, and HerFLIX would tell you: Start going for your goals today, meet others already creating their careers at Woman Fest, and dream big!

Call 845-363-1559 to pre-register for Woman Fest’s Open Mic Stage; walk-ins accepted each night of the festival from 8:30-9pm only. Contestants should prepare a 3 or 4 minute selection; comics may prepare a 6 minute set. Good luck! The career you launch could be your own.

and healing.” One of the 31 attendees was Kim Blacklock, President of the Putnam County based non-profit, H. G. Fairfield Arts Center for the Environment. By the end of the seminal Dialogue, one thing had become abundantly clear to the attendees: women need an inclusive forum to celebrate the strengths and accomplishments of women from all walks of life.

In response to this revelation, H. G. Fairfield Arts has developed Woman Fest: Celebrating Women. H. G. Fairfield Arts Founder Kathie Freston – one of the oldest female U.S. military veterans, a Marine Captain from the Korean War – knows firsthand what an invaluable role women play from local to global communities. For instance, 15.1% of households in New York State are run by single mothers. Over 30% of firms in NYS are women-owned. The NYS Department of Labor’s growth patterns show that over the next 20 years the most favorable advancements happen in arts, culture, healthcare, and self-made careers – the economic impact of the arts alone in 2006 was $27.5 billion. H. G. Fairfield Arts’ goal – in line with their mission “to promote the creation, practice and performance of arts, culture, and recreation” – is to provide the space for women and girls to showcase their strengths and contributions in our societies and in our local, state, and national economies.

Woman Fest, a two-day festival, being held August 8th and 9th, is open to everyone, and will feature an Open Mic stage, Women of Color Tent, Women & Spirituality Tent, Women & Military Service Tent, Artist’s Tent, Child Care Tent, Drumming Tent, woman-led vendors and workshops, space for horses, and more. Above all, the festival has been designed as a nurturing space for women to present who they are and what they’re doing. Woman Fest will be taking place at the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park (upper level) in Carmel, NY, with women and their supporters welcome from all over the Northeast.

Woman Fest will kick off at 8a.m. on Thursday, August 8th (vendor load-in begins Wednesday 10a.m.) and continue until the closing ceremony on Friday, August 9th at 9p.m. August 10th is scheduled as a rain date. Admission will be $10 per day for adults and free for children. Overnight camping is $10 and is by preregistration only. Vendors or organizations interested in having a booth at the festival should refer to the vendor form available on http://www.hgfairfieldarts.org/.

“Celebrating great women is nothing new to Putnam County; we’re reminded of that each time we pass the Sybil Ludington statue in Carmel,” Blacklock points out. The tradition of women gathering continues today in many cultures and countries. Our own history includes, for instance, the popular women festivals of the 1980 as well as the monumental Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. H. G. Fairfield Arts invites everyone to come celebrate mothers, women, children, and our future together.

August 8th and 9th, 2013 (Thursday & Friday) in the upper level of the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park on Gipsy Trail Road in Kent, NY. H. G. Fairfield Arts is taking the lead in our state by presenting the first Woman Fest – a two-day gathering of women, families, & friends celebrating the strengths and accomplishments of women from all walks of life and from all over the East Coast. Come to the planning get-together Monday June 24th to see what we can create together. What would you like to see at Woman Fest? Our ideas include an Open Mic stage, Women of Color Tent, Women in Military Service Tent, Artist’s Tent, Child Care Tent, Drum Tent, camping, woman-led vendors, workshops, and more.

Please RSVP ASAP. For more information, or if you cannot attend but have suggestions, please call 845-363-1559 or email Office@HGFairfieldArts.org.