Through our Artists United for Reproductive Justice program, we cultivate artistic leadership and strategy that can connect uncommon, idealistic, or even radical ideas with everyday life.
Artists United for Reproductive Justice

Dear Friends,
Sister Song has been the anchor of the reproductive justice movement for 18 years and with that comes a responsibility to continue to innovate the ways reproductive justice shows up in our everyday lives. Artists are in a unique position to take on the honor and the work of helping communities to imagine and to think critically about where we are as a movement and where we still need to grow.
Through our Artists United for Reproductive Justice (AURJ) program, we are working to push communities beyond just telling stories and toward recalibrating reality through artistic mediums that allow for reclamation of space, representation, visuals, narrative, history, and community that is uncensored and fearless.
We are living in a society that is filled with rhetoric, policies and advertising that criminalize the bodies of women of color and oppress our communities.  Creating art is a way of fighting back against distorted discourse and images that erase and dismiss the voices of those most marginalized in the fight for reproductive justice. 

Sincerely,
Monica Simpson,Executive Director

AURJ Organizer,
Stephanie Alvarado

Stephanie Alvarado is SisterSong's new Artists United for Reproductive Justice (AURJ) organizer. Stephanie is a queer, Latina feminista born and raised in the Bronx, NY by way of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Since becoming politicized in her early adolescence around the power of community organizing, cultural and art activism, Stephanie has worked at the intersections of youth organizing, reproductive justice, immigrant rights, racial justice, and queer liberation at local, state, international, and national levels. Stephanie is also a spoken word poet and reproductive justice scholar. Stephanie holds a BA in Psychology and Latino Studies from New York University and a MA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Emory University.

Revolutionary Love

Our executive director, Monica Simpson just released an album - "Revolutionary Love". The record blends her gospel roots and her passion for social justice with deep soul. The proceeds will benefit SisterSong's Artists United for Reproductive Justice (AURJ). 

Download it now to hear what Monica calls her style of revolutionary soul.


Transgender Day of Resilience Art Project

Today is the international observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance.  In recognition of this day, the lives lost to anti-transgender violence, but also the strength and power of transgender people to overcome oppression, Strong Families worked with artists to create a series of images under the banner of "Trans Day of Resilience".  Strong Families calls this project a "re-imagining of what it means to memorialize transgender people's lives."

Power of Art to Create Healing Space for Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence

The Monument Quilt brings together stories written, stitched, and painted onto red fabric to create and demand space for survivors to heal. Each individual square shares the stories of survivors and allies. Almost 1,500 squares have been collected and displayed on campuses and in communities across the country.

The goal is to create a display in Washington, DC of 6,000 squares stitched together to spell "Not Alone" on the national mall in 2017. The display will be a powerful statement and begin to shift the conversation about sexual violence. 


SisterSong and AURJ are excited to partner with the Monument Quilt to organize a series of workshops this winter for women of color to come together to share our stories and to be part of this national movement to work to end rape culture.  We will share more details soon.   
Quilt Walk for Justice for Native Women and Children

On December 7th, 2015, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case involving sexual assault on tribal lands. The
(NIWRC) and the Monument Quilt will join together in front of the Supreme Court carrying quilt squares. 

"We will walk in support of safety for Native women and sovereignty of Indian nations..Race should not be a license to prey on Native women and children." 

Cherrah Giles, Board President, NIWRC