Emily Cargill and Dancers (a JAX-based contemporary dance company) is producing the second annual Women Arts Exchange on Saturday, April 13, at the Phoenix Arts and Innovation District. WAX is thrilled to call the Phoenix home this year, as this collaboration is sure to cultivate one of the most innovative and inspiring artistic events in JAX.

WAX will promote, highlight and feature bold, innovative and unique women artists in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas in the visual and performance art genres. Our mission is to pay homage and raise awareness of the important and necessary impact that women have on our culture, our community and our world.

Emily Cargill and Dancers wants to build community and camaraderie among women creators and encourage artistic collaborations in the future among participating artists. WAX will feature a wide array of professional female artists from Jacksonville and the surrounding areas who are inspired to be a part of a 'women supporting women' event. In short, this is a celebration of women in the arts!

A bit about WAX:

The event happens in two halves. The first portion of the evening is an art gallery/sip n stroll experience, where we will feature the most creative female visual artist voices that Jacksonville has to offer. We are working with artists from the Fem Art Gallery, Bespoke House, CoRK Arts District, as well as Barbara Hionides, Elena Ohlander, and other individual artists working in and around the city. Patrons will also be able to engage in an immersive dance/art installation exhibit during the sip n stroll by Brooklyn-based dance artist, Haley Miller, and participate in a collective response exhibit in the Grief Listening Lounge by Emily Cargill and Dancers.

The second half of the evening will be a curated dance performance, featuring choreographers and dancers from all across the city and surrounding regions. We are hosting an amazing line up of some of the most cutting-edge, innovative choreographers including Xan Burley (NYC/Gainesville), Bliss Kohlmyer (Tampa), Andie Knudson (ATL), Sami Coplon (NYC/Winter Park), Muyu Ruba (Philadelphia), Julianna Raimondo (DC) and Emily Cargill and Dancers (JAX).

Emily Cargill and Dancers' newest work, tentatively titled the Grief Project, will premiere at the 2024 Women Arts Exchange. The company has been gathering the grief stories of our community members, families and friends and have begun weaving, crafting and shifting these recollections into a beautiful, heartbreaking, personal movement story of loves who were lost and deeply cherished. Additionally, Emily was recently awarded the Community Foundation Art Ventures grant to pursue research and continue her creative process for this project. ECD is also thrilled to have two classical musicians playing live for the soundscore of this dance piece.

Last but not least, there will be a culminating performance by spoken word artists from Women Writing for a Change/JAX while the participating dance artists respond with an improvised movement collaboration. This curated program of dance works will be unlike anything Jacksonville audiences have had the opportunity to witness, and will be the most cutting edge choreographic and performance experience of the year.

This will be THE immersive art and performance event of the year, as there is nothing else like this happening here in JAX. The first annual event was an incredible success - the evening, surreal. Such powerful, intriguing, innovative, stunning work on all fronts. Everyone was blown away. We describe it as a celebration of women in the visual and performing art genres, highlighting the phenomenal female talent that is living and working in the city of Jacksonville and beyond.

Come, be a part of something beautiful!