Farm Arts Collective to celebrate International Women’s Day

Farm Arts Collective will host a public gathering in celebration of International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m. at the collective’s agri-cultural center on Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus, PA. International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action to accelerate gender parity.

The 2026 theme for the International Women’s Day is “Rights, justice, action for all women and girls” and calls for international action to dismantle barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls.

Last year, Farm Arts Collective celebrated International Women’s Day 2025 with a gathering that attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd to its agri-cultural center on Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus, PA. This year, the women-led collective continues the tradition, with a day that will feature presentations, conversation, food, and interactive activities. The program will begin with an excerpt from “Scattered Seeds of Troy,” a new feminist anti-war performance being developed and devised by director Tannis Kowalchuk and Farm Arts Collective actors Jess Beveridge, Costanza Bugiani and Ginny Hack. Inspired by the ancient Greek tragedy, “The Trojan Women,” the Farm Arts Collective play asks what seeds does each woman take with them when forced to leave their homeland?

International Women’s Day at Farm Arts Collective will also feature a live interview with local farmer Erica Madden of Good Find Farm in Damascus. The United Nations has named 2026 The Year of the Woman Farmer, and so Erica will talk about her journey as a farmer—how she started, her obstacles, achievements, and what it is like to run a small farm business in today’s climate.

The event will also include an interactive seed planting table and a collective conversation and sharing of ideas, actions, and hopes for 2026. Participants are invited to bring a baked good or dish to share, coffee and tea will be provided.

The free event is sponsored in part by Women In Philanthropy, Wayne County Community Foundation. Farm Arts Collective is located at 38 Hickory Lane, Damascus, PA 18415. For more information call Farm Arts Collective at 570-798-9530, or visit https://shorturl.at/lWWQk .

PHOTOS— Erica Madden of Good Find Farm, International Women’s Day gathering 2025, and Farm Arts Collective artists “Scattered Seeds of Troy”