While Funny Women continues to provide a unique platform for women to extend their comedic and creative boundaries, we also aim to raise awareness and funds for a variety of causes that directly affect women.
Funny Women likes to work with organisations that represent all aspects of women’s wellbeing – laughing about life to help and heal women.
Through our events, Funny Women has raised heaps of awareness and over £100,000 for the following charities during the last seven years:
2003 Bristol Cancer Help Centre, now Penny Brohn Cancer Care
2004 YWCA, Jo’s Trust, V-Day
2005 YWCA , Jo’s Trust, V-Day
2006 YWCA, Jo’s Trust, V-Day, Ovarian cancer action
2007 V-Day, ActionAid, Ovarian cancer action
2008 V-Day, ActionAid, Ovarian cancer action
2009 ActionAid - Put your foot down campaign - and V-Day: Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource - Power to Women & Girls of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Funny Women Stand Up takes place every year on 8th March, International Women’s Day and grew out of a collaboration between Funny Women founder, Lynne Parker, and political advisor and former stand-up comic, Ayesha Hazarika. The show is Funny Women’s key charity awareness and fund raising event and continues to bring attention to issues around violence against women.
in 2010 Funny Women Stand Up takes place on Monday 8th March in the main house of the Leicester Square Theatre and we're also producing a series of other shows, workshops and interactive events to bring women writers and performers together and discuss cultural issues as part of the women's festival, See You Next Tuesday 6th - 20th March at the New Players Theatre. All proceeds will go to V-Day.
Tickets are already on sale for Funny Women Stand Up, just £25 and all proceeds to V-Day. BOOK NOW and go to our TICKETS page to see who's in the show. We are also lining up some very special guests and the show promises to be a real mix of comedy and cabaret of the highest female calibre!
The Funny Women Awards Final is our other key charity event. The 2009 Final was held in support of V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, with which we have had a long and rewarding relationship. This event takes place on Monday 20th September this year.
V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalise the spirit of existing anti-violence organisations. V-Day in the UK campaigns to prevent violence against women and girls, including rape, domestic violence, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), so-called ‘honour killings’ and sexual slavery.
In 2010 V-Day’s spotlight is on the appalling sexual violence being used as a weapon in an economic war against women and girls of all ages across Eastern Congo (hundreds of thousands have been brutalised). V-Day believes that the story of the Congo needs to be told to the rest of the world. As thousands of citizens around the world are awakening to the catastrophe that is taking place in the Congo – one that has left 6 million dead – we here in the UK must not be silent on this issue.
We are proud to be helping the V-Day committee with a high profile schedule of activities over the next year. Women and men in the UK are being informed of the horrors that are facing our Congolese sisters right now, in order to speak with one voice - "No more rape in the DRC". Shockingly a woman or girl is being raped every half an hour in the DRC. See www.vdayuk.org for more details about joining the campaign. You can also donate now by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/funnywomen.
