Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

The Gage Foundation just mailed out its year-end newsletter to supporters across the country. Here’s what we had to report:

Make History! Become a charter member of the Gage Community before January 1 and receive a free gift.  Benefits include admission to the Gage Center, a 10% discount at the gift shop, and invitations to members-only activities.  Your membership will make you a stakeholder in our important work to inspire a passion for justice.  A Gift Membership will make an excellent holiday gift.  Join today and bring a friend! Click here to go to the “Membership” section of this website to find out how to join.

Breaking News: Pope Joan Red Carpet U.S. Premiere in Syracuse This Spring!!! The film adaptation of Donna Woolfolk Cross’s international best-selling novel, starring John Goodman among others, opened in Europe last year. Donna just received approval from the producer to allow the Gage Foundation to host a special “Red Carpet” screening in Syracuse in April. Filmed in English, Pope Joan has been screening to sell-out crowds at film festivals around the U.S., where it has received multiple awards for Best Feature Film, Best Musical Score, and Audience Favorite Film. We are very grateful to Donna for extending to us this tremendous opportunity, and for her long-time support of the work of the Gage Foundation. View the movie trailer at http://www.popejoan.com/yt-movietrailer.htm and watch the Gage website for “red carpet” details!

Would You Like to Have Tea with Gloria Steinem in Her Living Room? Gloria—along with the rest of our National Advisory Committee—is hosting a tea for Liberty League members on Memorial Day weekend, May 29, 2011. Mimi Kennedy—soon to be seen in the Woody Allen film, “Midnight in Paris”—will perform a piece from her one-woman Matilda Joslyn Gage play. Join the Gage Community today as a Liberty League member and join Gloria and Mimi for tea! The tea is limited to the first 30 members to join.

How Often Do You Get a Chance to Step Back and Examine Where You Are and Get $25,000 When You’re Done? We got the gift of a self-assessment program from the Gifford Foundation, which chose us as one of only four organizations in our area to work with a consultant in an in-depth, multi-faceted process of evaluating—and ultimately improving—all of the functions of the Gage Center. In 2011, when we have determined where our organization is today and how best to get where we are heading, the Gifford Foundation will give us $25,000 to implement whatever we assess our needs to be.

A Gage Friendraiser Coming to Your Area … We’ve scheduled friendraisers for the Bay Area of California on March 13 and for New Jersey on March 27. Contact the Gage Foundation if you might be interested in gathering friends in your area for an event that supports our mission!

See Rosemary Rickard Hill’s Acclaimed Beadwork at the Smithsonian—or at the Gage Center! This internationally renowned Tuscarora beadwork artist gifted us with an exhibit of 14 original pieces for our Grand Opening, which will go back on display when the Center officially opens for tours in February. Watch for a spring exhibit reception with Rosemary, whose artwork is currently on display at the Smithsonian. Check our website for the Gage Center “whimsies” beadwork – all of them on sale with half the profits from the sales a gift to us from Rosemary! Also a lovely holiday gift for you to give! http://www.flickr.com/photos/55635544@N06/sets/72157625444755367/show/

Calling All Volunteers—Current and New! Join us January 29 from 2-5 p.m. for a special reception honoring old and welcoming new volunteers to our work. Come eat and greet and learn about exciting new opportunities for involvement with the Gage Center. From data entry and organizing files to research and planning events, we need you and welcome you as part of our team. If you can’t make the event, please contact us to update your records and explore your work interests for the year. Email Heidi at foundation@MatildaJoslynGage.org or Susan at asstdir@MatildaJoslynGage.org, or call (315) 637-9511.

Want to Be a Docent/Tour Guide at the Gage Center? Come to a training session Feb. 3 from 2-4 p.m. or 6-8 p.m. and explore the possibility. Call or email to reserve your spot.

“Singing All Those Suffrage and Matilda Gage Songs Really Changed My Perspective,” said Eagle Hill Middle School Student Bridget Dugan. “I used to take all the rights I’ll have when I’m older for granted; now I realize how thankful for it I should be.” Bridget and the Girls Chorus entertained during our Grand Opening weekend.

Vanessa Johnson, our Gage Center resident artist and an African American storyteller in the Griot tradition, created and performed, with her jazz group, an original Gage composition for our Grand Opening weekend. It took four young dancers on an imaginary tour of Gage’s house. Vanessa was amazed at the effect learning about Gage had on the girls. “The first bios the student dancers gave me for the program included hobbies like watching TV. After they got to know Gage during rehearsal, they changed their bios to better represent the power of who they were. Gage affected all of us, including the band,” Vanessa said.

“Let Us Know Your Reason for the Faith That Is Within You,” Matilda Joslyn Gage wrote, inviting anti-suffrage women to attend the National Woman Suffrage Association convention in 1872. Following Gage’s commitment to encouraging respectful sharing of opposing ideas, we have worked with a grant from the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience to establish dialogue as a cornerstone of the Gage Center’s operation.

Gage’s Ideas Still Provoke Controversy. After Paul Schneible won our annual high school essay contest with a thoughtful look at Gage’s position on church-state separation, his essay caused a firestorm when published in the Syracuse Post-Standard. The paper editorialized its strong support for freedom of speech, while we invited the opponents of Paul’s ideas to join us in dialogue, as we did a woman who opposed our holding a séance in the Gage Home on biblical grounds. Click here to go to Religious Freedom Room > Dialogue in 2010 on this website to read the exchange over the séance.

“I Really Thought You Were Crazy,” Neale Moore confessed to our director, Sally Roesch Wagner. Neale and his partner, Roger Bradstreet, who worked tirelessly to ready the Gage Home for our Grand Opening, were appalled when she asked them to repaint one wall in each freshly painted room with whiteboard. “When I saw the writing people did on the whiteboard walls, I realized what a great idea it was,” Neale concluded.

Write on Our Walls. Heresy in the museum world. But Gage called for rules and laws to be changed when they didn’t meet people’s needs. Our need is to get your ideas about how to create the feel of each of our social justice-themed rooms, the exhibits in each room, and the programs of interest to you today. What better way than to have you write your ideas on our walls? We then transfer them to our website, and encourage everyone to join us in virtual dialogue about the ideas.

Kwe Kwe! Nia:Wen Tsi Kentho I:Sewets translated: Greetings! Thanks for Coming Here wrote Rohonwa’kehra, a 9-year-old Mohawk boy on the wall in the Haudenonsaunee Room. He and his 11-yearold brother Kahetakeron were paid as room consultants, suggesting what they would like non-native youth to know about them. “That we don’t live in tipis!” was one thing, and “We dress like you except for ceremony,” was another.

Work for the Seventh Generation. Decisions should all be made with the seventh generation from us in mind, the Haudenosaunee teach us. We were honored at our Grand Opening to have young Sophia G. Hudson, a seventh-generation descendant of Matilda Joslyn Gage, with us. “The happiness of woman is the only happiness we have,” Sophia wrote on the wall in the Women’s Rights Room.

FREE SHIPPING on All Holidays Gifts in our gift shop! Click here to find creative presents for everyone on your list.  Each purchase supports the work of the Gage Foundation.