About Us

The purpose of Women In the Arts, Inc. (WIA) is to produce and sponsor programs that promote and affirm the creative talents and technical skills of women in the visual, performing, and fine arts. The primary vehicle to meet this purpose is the production of the National Women's Music Festival. In producing this and other arts programs, WIA strives to facilitate the growth, knowledge, and empowerment of women in the other varied aspects of their lives.

In all programs, WIA:

1. strives to reflect the diversity and multicultural reality of the women's community in regard to race, age, physical ability, and sexual orientation
2. actively reaches out to reflect this diversity in its workers, participants, performers, and presenters.

In 1974, the first National Women's Music Festival was held on the campus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in response to the underrepresentation of women in the music industry and with the possibility of building an alternative culture. The National Women's Music Festival became an annual event and continued in Champaign-Urbana for the next six years. In 1982, the festival was officially incorporated as a not-for-profit organization called Women In the Arts/National Women's Music Festival, Inc., and moved to the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, Indiana. Over the years, the organization has expanded its scope to include other events such as dances, women's film festivals, and other events promoting women's music, art, and culture. The organization changed its name to Women In the Arts, Inc., in 1995 to represent the broader base of activities the organization produces.