Gwangju Vagina Monologues Open Mic Night Fundraiser

To celebrate the global V-Day 2014 event and the 1 Billion Rising Campaign to end violence against women, the Gwangju V-Day team is holding an Open Mic fundraiser concert for the upcoming 2014 Vagina Monologues performance.

While last year’s fundraising event took place in a small noraebang and was more impromptu than organized, this year the team has planned a formal concert. They are still seeking community members to sign up as performers.

“I want someone to do a monologue not related to the Vagina Monologues,” Open Mic organizer and Vagina Monologues performer Ynell Lumantao said.

Lumantao, who moved to Gwangju from the Philippines in 2007 and organized Gwangju’s December fundraiser for survivors of the Philippines typhoon, says the Open Mic encourages audience participation. She also wants to highlight new local musical group The Aye Team, which includes vocalist Amy Daniels, guitarist Julian Warmington keyboardist Andrew Vlasblom and rotating members.

“Their first event was the Phillipines fundraiser and they’ve helped me a lot,” Lumantao said.

Lumantao joined Gwangju’s Vagina Monologues for the 2013 peformance after having heard about the play for several years.

“At first, I didn’t want to be involved, but when I watched it, I really wanted to perform,” she said. “I was really late last year. I did it in English and Tagalog. It’s a really good cause that should be done every year.”

The 2014 Gwangju Vagina Monologues performance will be early March and the date and venue will be announced after the fundraiser.

The Open Mic fundraiser will be held at Song’s German Bar downtown February 15 at 8 p.m. Admission is 5,000.

To learn more about the Vagina Monologues, V-Day and 1 Billion Rising, visit vday.org