Smartbar Chicago has announced another installment of DAPHNE: Celebrating Female-Identifying Non-Binary Artist, a series with an all-female lineup for the entire month of March, which as you know is Women’s History Month.
The series is championed and curated by talent buyer Marea Stramper, who also performs as celebrated dance musician The Black Madonna. “Daphne” is a nod to both the Greek goddess of the same name and Daphne Oram, a British producer and electronic musician who began pioneering electronic production in the 50s.
In an announcement on Facebook, organizers at Smartbar described the event as “no different than any other night … we work hard to place woman-identified and non-binary artists in positions of leadership in our club on a consistent and ever-increasing basis.”
The series will feature both music events and workshops, a longstanding staple of the Daphne series that seeks to engage, elevate, and educate about a host of topics.
Women have been central part of the architecture of Smartbar’s residents program for almost 20 years—long before equality in dance music was a hot button topic.
With the Daphne series, we hope to disprove the oft-cited “roadblocks” used to scapegoat gender disparities in dance lineups by showing that gender parity is not only possible, but it also requires no compromise in the quality or success of the club.
The first weekend of events kicks off Friday, March 3rd, with a live show by Elysia Crampton and will continue each weekend until a Friday, March 31st show by Lake Effect with K-Hand.
Learn more at Smartbar’s website.
