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To celebrate Women's History Month, our intern Alysha Matthews has written her very first Dash Blog post:
March is Women's History Month, and to celebrate we'd like to highlight some amazing, talented Ukrainian women we've had the pleasure and privilege to work with at Dash over the years. They have tirelessly worked over the last year, as artists and activists, to keep Ukraine at the forefront of our minds. They are true icons for us.

Olia Hercules

Olia Hercules is an activist, chef, and author. Olia first joined us for our pop-up installation, our Ukrainian Dacha, back in 2016. Then in 2020, Olia and our artistic director, Josephine Burton, created a podcast episode together, cooking borscht and having wonderful conversation about memory, politics and the female perspective.

Olia has written 3 books:

Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & beyond

Kaukasis The Cookbook: The culinary journey through Georgia, Azerbaijan & beyond

Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine.

In 2015, Olia was named the Observer Rising Star.

Olia uses her platform to share the struggles of her family in Ukraine and call attention to the violence happening there. She and several other London chefs including Alissa Timoskina, another wonderful chef we have had the opportunity to collaborate with, teamed up to start a fundraising movement called #CookForUkraine. This movement aims to increase awareness and raise funds for affected children and families. Olia and Alissa were honoured with the Observer Food Monthly Editor Awards last year for their work with this movement. In an open letter published by Harper's Bazaar magazine, Olia said this:

"Much like my ancestors, who survived so much; Ukraine has not died yet. We shall not give up hope."

Olesya Zdorovetska is a performer, composer, and curator. We've had the privilege to work several times as a musician in our Dash Cafes. In January 2017, Olesya performed as part of our Dash Cafe at Rich Mix - Ukraine - An Artists View. This event explored a changing Ukrainian identity, post-maidan, facing constant Russian aggression in the east of the country.

Olesya is based in Dublin, but she is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine. She founded the Ukrainian Irish Cultural Platform and is the co-curator and producer of Phonica, a platform for new music and poetry. She has won numerous awards for her music, projects, sound designs and performances.

Olesya's talents spread across several fields: Improvised Jazz, Afro-Caribbean, Contemporary Classical, traditional Ukrainian, and Sephardic Music, theatre and film. Since moving to Dublin in 2011, Olesya has become a well-known and dynamic figure on the music scene in Ireland. Cambridge Critique calls her "one of Ukraine's most celebrated performers."

She uses her platform and her music to start conversations about the crisis in Ukraine. In an interview with Independent.ie Olesya makes this comment:

"I truly think that a deeper appreciation of the arts and culture will encourage the critical thinking that ensures this never happens again."

Mariana Sadovska is a singer, actress and composer, and one of the key performers in our production Songs for Babyn Yar, which is now touring. It tells the stories of the survivors of the Nazi occupation of Ukraine and attempted genocide of Ukraine's Jewish people through personal reflection, testimony, stories and songs. Mariana performs alongside fellow extraordinary Ukrainian musicians and activists Svetlana Kundish (also a wonderful Ukrainian female Icon for us) and Yuriy Gurzhy.

Mariana was born in Lviv, Ukraine. She trained as a classical pianist at Lviv's National Music Academy and later joined one of Ukraine's leading theatre companies: the Les' Kurbas Theatre. Mariana spent about 10 years in Poland working as a principal, actress, composer, and music director. Since then, she has collaborated with other musicians to create vocal music for different international theatre and music ensembles across Euorpe and in the USA.

In 2013, Mariana Sadovska won the Ruth German World Music Award. Her training and experiences helped launch her global career and paved the way for Mariana to perform on stages across the world. Mariana uses her platform to share Ukrainian music and raise awareness for her homeland.

Natalka Vorozhbyt is a prominent screenwriter, playwright, and film-maker from Ukraine. She was one of our two playwrights for Crimea 5AM, a personal, lyrical documentary-style production that highlights the stories of 10 prisoners and their families living in Crimea, alongside the wonderful Anastasia Kosodii. She also worked with us as librettist on our Renegade Orchestra project in 2016-2017.

Natalka was born in Kyiv, and she is a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute and the International Writer's Program. She started off working on a Russian TV series called Schools. Then she was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company to write The Grain Store, a play about a manufactured famine in the 1930s, the Holodomor, that killed millions of Ukrainians. Natalka has also written screenplays for films such as Cyborgs and Bad Roads. Both films are inspired by and tell the story of different military conflicts in Ukraine. Cyborgs talks about the defense of Sergei Prokoviev, and Bad Roads creatively expresses the reality of living through the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. Natalka directed Bad Roads herself. It made its debut at the Venice Film Festival and was Ukraine's entry for the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.

In 2015, she created The Theatre of Displaced People to support those whose lives have been turned upside down in Eastern Ukraine and since the war began, she and other playwrights have established a new documentary theatre in Kyiv to provide a space for voices emerging from the current war.

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Women's History Month: A Celebration of Ukrainian Women - DASH ARTS

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To celebrate Women's History Month, our intern Alysha Matthews has written her very first Dash Blog post: March is Women's History Month, and to celebrate we'd like to highlight some amazing, talented Ukrainian women we've had the pleasure and privilege to work with at Dash over the years.

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Shirley Temple was the leading child actor of her time, receiving a special Oscar and starring in films like ‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Heidi.’

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I would love to do a lesson about Shirley Temple because she went from a child movie star to become a US Ambassador.

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Shirley Temple Went From Movie Star to U.S. Ambassador

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She didn’t travel abroad on a good ship, but Shirley Temple Black charmed the world in person just like she had on-screen.

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Here is a Google document that students would complete after watching one of the short videos about influential women in American history. Let me know if you think there should be any edits or additions.

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Text about the history of Women's History Month

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Text about the history of Women's History Month

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This article will be good for our higher readers.

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This text is for our students who need more language support.

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590L How Women's History Month Came to Be

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This video, Oh, Sister!, is uplifting and heartbreaking, as it shows women's hardships in Ukraine and their power and strength during the present war. (length 20 minutes)

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This article was originally published in Pat Mitchell's blog and weekly newsletter.
This week marks the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The war continues-and yet 'life goes on' for most of the rest of the world. This week, I'd like to acknowledge a small group of women whose lives are about finding ways to achieve peace and to eliminate suffering: the Nobel Women's Initiative.

Only 18 women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize-compared to 92 men. In 2006, six female winners-Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams-formed the Nobel Women's Initiativ e (NWI). (Aung San Suu Kyi, the only other living woman winner, was under house arrest at the time. She became an honorary member upon her release in 2010.)

Today, the NWI includes six laureates- Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman, Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Jody Williams -offering programs, events, training, mentorship, advocacy and campaigns.

Last summer, Williams, Karman and Gbowee traveled to Poland and Ukraine to meet with hundreds of displaced women and dozens of women's organizations, human rights organizations, humanitarian agencies and activists.

After the laureates visited Poland and Ukraine, NWI released a Delegation Report, held advocacy meetings with decision-makers and, in partnership with United for Ukraine, commissioned a documentary film entitled

The 20-minute film features the stories of six Ukrainian women who are facing the challenges of the ongoing Russian invasion, and fighting for peace, justice and freedom in their country.

Oleksandra Matviychuk: human rights lawyer; head of the Center for Civil Liberties, Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2022

Alla Melnychuk: head of Mother and Newborn, a charitable organization helping to save lives of infants with severe health issues

Tata Kepler: medical supplies volunteer; head of Ptahy Foundation providing tactical medical supplies on an industrial scale

Natalia Kudrych and Nadia Zhmykovska: train conductors for Ukrainian Railways

Lastivka: A medical platoon leader on the front lines

Oh, Sister! spotlights how Ukrainian women are working to safeguard fundamental human rights in the face of war. It also shows the central role that women and civil society play in keeping life going in times of war. The filmhas been screened in Brussels and Berlin with E.U. Ministers, ambassadors, diplomats and the general public. It was also shown at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo on Jan. 24, with Jody Williams participating.

We witnessed the superpowers of many Ukrainian women on our visit. 'Oh, Sister' documents stories of resistance, like the super-women conductors who rescued thousands.
Leymah Gbowee

Ways to Support Women in Ukraine

Generating support for women-led organizations in Ukraine and continuing to pressure the international community to ensure the inclusion of women at all levels of decision making now (and in the eventual post-war recovery and rebuilding process), is more important than ever.

Donate. United for Ukraine launched the Women Lead campaign, raising resources for women-led organizations fighting for peace, justice and equality. Show / share this QR code for the donation page.

Advocate. Advocate for an end to the war and demand inclusion of diverse women in all decision-making processes with your national government and international bodies.

Connect. Invite your group to write postcards to our sisters in Ukraine and post them on social media tagging Nobel Women's Initiative and United for Ukraine.

Join the sisterhood. Invite your group to stay in touch with NWI. Show / share this QR code to sign up for NWI's newsletter.

Spread the word! Ask your group to share their impressions and invite their network to watch the film. Sample social media posts are here.

Show the film. Invite your group to host screenings of their own. (For inquiries about the film, including screenings, contact ohsister@nobelwomensinitiative.org. More details and resources can be found here on the NWI website, including a helpful discussion guide and social media toolkit.)

"Change is driven from the ground up by women's movements and leaders. Looking forward, the Nobel Women's Initiative will continue to use our collective power to take more courageous and collective actions for peace to transform old, ineffective approaches to resolving conflicts and create conditions for a more peaceful, just, sustainable, democratic and equal world," writes Maria Butler, executive director of NWI.

Given that the war and its devastating impact on the Ukrainian people, still bravely resisting the Russian invasion of their country, is no longer top of mind in the ever changing news cycles, it's all the more important that each of us take a moment every day to remember and if possible, to do something.

Today, I'm writing about it and sharing this short film. What will you do?
Up next:

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How Ukrainian Women Are Working to Safeguard Human Rights in the Face of War - Ms. Magazine

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This article was originally published in Pat Mitchell's blog and weekly newsletter. This week marks the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The war continues-and yet 'life goes on' for most of the rest of the world.

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This screening toolkit offers support and background information on the video.

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This screening toolkit offers support and background information on the video.

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This is a great activity using primary sources to compare the suffrage and civil rights reform movements.

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This is a great activity using primary sources to compare the suffrage and civil rights reform movements.

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Start Activity

Suggested Teaching Instructions
Learning Objectives
Students will compare and contrast photographs of a Bastille Day march by suffragists in 1917 and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 15-20 minutes.
Instructions
This activity is intended as a warm-up or introduction to reform movements as part of a discussion of the National History Day theme: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. The two photographs depict historical events in the history of the woman suffrage and Civil Rights movements.

Present the activity to the entire class. Model careful analysis with students. Ask one half of the students to focus on each photograph. Tell students to use the arrow and magnifying glass icons in the blue menu bar at the bottom to see details in their photograph. Instruct students to create lists of people, objects, and activities in their photograph.
Note: For the list of people, ask students to look at the types of people, specific famous people, and any other details about the people in the photographs (e.g. size of group, clothing, ethnicities, etc).
Bring the class back together and have students discuss each individual photograph as you list the people, objects, and activities on the board.

After this discussion, have students pair off and discuss similarities and differences between the photographs in a small group. Next, discuss the similarities and differences between these photographs together as a class.

Some of the similarities they may notice include:

* Both groups are protesting in the nation's capital.
* Both groups are using banners and slogans to spread their message.
* Both groups appear peaceful and well mannered.

Some of the differences they may notice include:

* In the suffragist photo, men do not seem to be a part of the marchers (instead, merely spectators). Civil Rights marchers includes both men and women, as well as African Americans and Whites.
* Suffragist marchers seem to be a smaller group.
* The caption of the suffragist photograph explains a negative reaction to their march (i.e. prison).
* The slogans of the Civil Rights group seem more focused on particular goals (segregation, voting rights, jobs), while the suffragist banner uses a slogan of the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity).
* There are more recognizable faces and names in the Civil Rights photograph (Martin Luther King, Jr., for example)

Finally, ask students to respond to the conclusion questions they see after clicking "When You're Done" Based on these photographs:

* What can one infer about the differences between the suffrage and civil rights movements?
* What was the biggest and most important difference?
* Cite specific evidence from the primary sources.
Extension Activity
Direct students to explore additional photographs of suffrage movement and photographs of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

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The Suffrage and the Civil Rights Reform Movements

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Start Activity Learning Objectives Students will compare and contrast photographs of a Bastille Day march by suffragists in 1917 and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 15-20 minutes.

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I think it would be a good idea to incorporate an activity honoring women in Ukraine during the war.

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Every year March is designated Women’s History Month by Presidential proclamation. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in American history.