Levenshulme Old Library celebrates International Women’s Day with week of community events
- International Women’s Day celebrates women’s social, cultural and political achievements
- Proceeds of events split between Levenshulme Old Library and Pankhurst Trust
- All FM dedicates entire radio schedule to International Women's Day
Levenshulme Old Library is celebrating International Women’s Day with a series of events throughout the week including a night of spoken word compered by Rebecca Kenny.
Ten north-west female writers will perform at the event including Zena Barrie, Loll Perkin and Levenshulme resident Sarah Butler, who is headlining.
The event will be an informal affair with people invited to bring their own food and drinks. Tickets are £5 and can be bought on Eventbrite.
Celebrations continue on Saturday (12 March) with a free arts and crafts session at Levenshulme Old Library where children will be able to make banners, bunting and zines. In the evening, vegetarian restaurant The Gherkin will host a club night with a line-up of female DJs playing songs by women.
Half of the proceeds from the events will be donated to the Pankhurst Trust which provides aid to women suffering from domestic abuse.
The trust also funds the Pankhurst Centre, former home of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. As well as serving as a small museum and heritage site, the centre is a women’s centre and community space.
The other half of the events’ proceeds will go towards funding various projects organised by Levenshulme Old Library.
Manager of Levenshulme Old Library, Laura Deane, said: “Ideally, I want the profits for this to go into work supporting women again.
“We’ve got a creative writing course starting for children in a couple of weeks that’s been set up by a 10-year-old girl in Levenshulme which will enable young people and young females to have a bit of a voice in the community.”
Levenshulme Old Library is a community arts centre and charity, housed in the former Levenshulme library on Cromwell Grove and is home to award winning community radio station All FM.
Happy #IWD2022 at ALLFM. pic.twitter.com/8yJmnMrnYz
— ALL FM 96.9 (@ALLFM) March 8, 2022
The radio station will also be contributing to the day’s celebrations by dedicating their entire schedule to International Women’s Day.
Ahead of the spoken word event, Rebecca Kenny said: “It’s a brilliant range of artists. A little bit of everything: poetry, humour, heart-wrenching stuff, politics.
“I think it’s going to be a really brilliant show with a really wide range of performers.”
Sharing why she thinks it’s important to celebrate International Women’s Day, Rebecca added: “Just celebrating femininity, not just being a woman but celebrating femininity and stereotypically feminine traits that men are discouraged from showing off.
“Anything that encourages those barriers to be broken down to me is really, really important.”