Page 8 - WLIS-Fall-Magazine-2023

It’s About HAVING FUN

Open Mic Event

Engages Community

Chapter 805 Indianapolis, Indiana

oman’s Life
Chapter 805

W Indianapolis,
Indiana, held a successful
Open Mic Family Event

as part of their ongoing
support for Outreach Indi-
ana, an organization that

provides resources for
homeless teens and young
adults ages 14–24.

The event raised $1,000, includ-
ing $500 in Matching Funds from
Woman’s Life, which helped well by collecting free-will dona-
Outreach with their 19th annual Our Chapter tions at the door.”
Walking for Dreams 2023 Fami- members are alsO The event was a big success in
ly and Pet Walk — a fundraising exCited that we have drawing people together with-
event the Chapter has supported been invited tO COme out a huge amount of work for
with Woman’s Life’s Matching tO the sChOOls tO busy Chapter members. “We
Funds for many years. had 15 non-stop performances,
Chapter President Millie Louis- enCOurage kids and including people who work in
saint says, “Open mic events are stress the impOrtanCe the community as well as those
popular but usually require sell- Of learning abOut who were intrigued by the op-
ing tickets. We found sponsors the spOken wOrd. portunity,” Louissaint says. “The
who would donate $50 to have a Millie Louissaint performers included poets as
spot on the flyer or a table or $30 well as people reading excerpts
for food sponsors to bring food to from their published works.”
sell.” Three food vendors accept- Louissaint remembers. “We want- “Our Chapter members are also
ed, and two provided food during ed families to be able to participate, excited that we have been invited
the event. so we scheduled the event from to come to the schools to encour-
Another critical step was finding 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. We promoted age kids and stress the importance
the right venue. “A new Chapter the event on social media and on of learning about the spoken word.
member serves on the board of our Eventbrite as a daytime event that One of our poets was invited to at-
Ujamaa Community Bookstore, was free to the public. This made tend another open-mic event and
and when we visited, we realized it our event stand out because most even gained a mentor for her bud-
provided the perfect family vibe — open mics are in the evening, and ding career — and we gained her
and it was available at no charge,” they charge admission. We did very as a new member!”

6 WOMANSLIFE.ORG FALL 2023