V-Day was born in 1998 as an outgrowth of Eve Ensler's Obie-Award winning play, "The Vagina Monologues." As Eve performed the piece in small towns and large cities all around the world, she saw and heard first hand the destructive personal, social, political and economic consequences violence against women has for many nations.
Hundreds of women told her their stories of rape, incest, domestic battery and genital mutilation. It was clear that something widespread and dramatic needed to be done to stop the violence. A group of women in New York joined Eve and founded V-Day . . . a catalyst, a movement, a performance.
The inspiration has now become the premiere fund-raising event for the V-Day Fund, In 1998 V-Day established the V-Day Fund. Each year special celebrity benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" raises funds that are directed to global grassroots organizations and programs that work to end violence against women and girls.
In just three years, V-Day has raised and donated more than a million dollars to grassroots organizations that fight violence worldwide.
The first V-Day event in 1998 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, and Calista Flockhart raised $150,000 for grassroots organizations working to stop violence against women.
In 1999 V-Day at London's Old Vic Theatre, featuring Thandie Newton, Kate Winslet, Kate Blanchette, Gillian Anderson and Melanie Griffith, gave $275,000 to anti-violence organizations. Seventy-five American colleges and universities also had V-Days, raising money and awareness.
In 2000 V-Day was celebrated in Los Angeles, 12 other cities worldwide, and 150 colleges. Over $785,000 was given to local, national, and international organizations working to end the violence.
On February 10, 2001, luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, Queen Latifah, Rosie Perez, Marlo Thomas, Calista Flockhart, Brooke Shields, Linda Ellerbee and dozens more staged a celebrity performance at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
As part of the V-Day 2001 College Initiative, more than 225 schools around the world will be performing "The Vagina Monologues" in their communities on or around V-Day 2001 to raise money and awareness to stop violence against women. The proceeds from these events are given to local organizations in the schools' communities that are working to stop sexual violence.
V-Day’s mission is simple. It demands that the violence must end. It proclaims Valentine’s Day as V-Day until the violence stops. When all women live in safety, no longer fearing violence or the threat of violence, then V-Day will be known as Victory Over Violence Day.
About the Founder
Eve Ensler is an award-winning playwright, activist and screenwriter. The play that served as the inspiration for the V-Day campaign, "The Vagina Monologues" won a 1997 Obie Award, the jury award for the Best Theater Performance at the Aspen Comedy Festival 2000, and was nominated for Drama Desk and Helen Hayes awards. It is currently enjoying a sold-out run at Off-Broadway's Westside Theater.
Her play "Necessary Targets," about the plight of women in Bosnia, has had benefit performances on Broadway, at the National Theater in Sarajevo, and at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Her newest play, Conviction, was commissioned by Music-Theater Group and recently performed at the Berkshire Theater Festival.
