WOMEN AND FAIR TRADE FESTIVAL
Avoid sweatshop products this holiday season and buy beautiful hand-made crafts
from artisan cooperatives from developing countries.
What: Women and Fair Festival
Where: The Old School - 1604 East 11th St, Austin TX 78702
When: Saturday and Sunday, December 1st & 2nd, 2012 - 10am-6pm
Who: Sponsored by Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera
Austin: Saturday and Sunday, December 1st & 2nd, Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera, a social justice organization, is promoting economic justice in our community this holiday season by sponsoring it’s 9thannual Women and Fair Trade Festival. Eight cooperatives, formed by women adversely affected by globalization, will come from all over the world to tell their stories and sell beautiful handmade crafts, toys, pottery, jewelry, clothing, textiles and ethnic weavings. Activist organizations, art lovers, university students, avid shoppers, and the broader Austin community will learn about fair trade and shop at the same time. The market festival will also feature live music, poetry, and raffles. The third annual Trans-lingual Poetry Concert will present women poets speaking from a global culture and show how borders and identities are crisscrossed and redefined.
For over 13 years, Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera (Austin So Close to the Border) has educated Austinites about labor and human rights and fair trade alternatives to policies that exploit workers.
Special Attractions
- Fuerza Unida, A San Antonio non-profit formed 22 years ago by women who were laid off when
Levi-Strauss moved it’s manufacturing overseas, recently launched it’s own line of denim, Fuerza Jeans With
Justice. Fuerza will be selling the jeans, along with new clothing lines designed by four San Antonio-based
designers at the W&FT Festival.
- Jolom Mayaetik, a cooperative representing over 250 women in Chiapas, Mexico, will exhibit their Symbol Sampler at the W&FT festival. The 15 foot long sampler documents all of the symbols, and dying and weaving techniques used in traditional Mayan textiles The cloth was recently displayed as part of the Bioartesanía exhibit at the Museo de Arte Popular (Museum of Popular Art) in Mexico City.