Emancipate – the Culture Project's producing arm, which focuses on supporting and promoting the work of women artists – will send eight musicians to New Orleans in March in order to meet with members of the community.

The exchange program will connect women musicians in New Orleans with women musicians from other parts of the country. The March trip is part of an ongoing initiative exploring the re-birth of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Included are Pamela Means, Alix Olson, Vicki Randle, Cris Williamson, Charmaine Neville, Asia Rainey, Gabrilla Ballard and Sunni Patterson. While in New Orleans, the songwriters will meet with women from Louisiana ACORN, New Orleans Outreach, Silence is Violence, Renew Our Music, Friends and Family of Louisiana's Incarcerated, INCITE, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, the People's Hurricane Relief Fund and the Grand Bayou Community.

Each musician will create songs based on her experiences that will be recorded on disc in June. Proceeds from the recording will be donated to a New Orleans service-oriented community organization.

Participants in the program will document their experiences through EmancipationInititaive.net, which will have daily blogs from the musicians, photos and video diaries. As part of the "Women Center Stage" festival, the Culture Project will present a live performance of Emancipate on April 27. Further details will be announced shortly.

Further information is available by visiting www.cultureproject.org.

*

For more than a decade The Culture Project has produced thought-provoking political theatre, tackling contemporary global issues. Under the wings of Allan Buchman, The Culture Project has presented numerous critically acclaimed and award-winning productions, including Eve Ensler's The Treatment, The Exonerated, Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel, Iris Bahr's Dai (enough), Guantanamo, AMAJUBA: Like Doves We Rise, My Trip To Al-Qaeda and George Packer's Betrayed.