In honor of Women’s History Month, The Center, local record company Say It Records and popular local band Danielle Lo Presti and The Masses are hosting “Celebrate Women’s Herstory Month” on Tuesday, March 23, at 6:00 p.m. The event will honor women throughout history, tweaking the conventional history lesson by remembering those that have often been overlooked.

The all-ages, activist evening features live music, dance, voter registration and special featured speaker Gracia Molina de Pick, a University of California, San Diego, lecturer and longtime latina activist who co-founded UCSD’s Chicano studies department. Pick helped get Mexican women the right to vote while a teenager living in Mexico, and has been active in the Democratic party since moving to the U.S. in the 1950s. She will give a short talk on the importance of feminism and female activism.

“We all want the justice, fairness and opportunity spread evenly amongst us,” Lo Presti said. “To spread the opportunity and the blessing and the justice out evenly is not only good for all the people who have been slighted for centuries, but it’s better for all of us as a whole because it makes the fabric of our community richer – much richer – than if it is lopsided on one end.”

In addition to entertainment and food, there will be informational tables about and representatives from female owned and operated businesses.

A mural painted by young artists from Stone-Paper-Scissors, a North Park arts education program, will be on display, and portraits of remarkable women will be posted throughout The Center’s auditorium: Event organizers have chosen 22 portraits of inspirational women, and each portrait details their accomplishments, specifically emphasizing how each has made the world a better place.

“A lot of this is about getting kids out,” Lo Presti said. “This whole idea of all these great, exciting examples of powerful women from all walks of life. Everybody looks different, everybody acts different, but they are all women and they are all paving their own way. They all have success in their own right.”

Each of the more than 18 performers has chosen a woman from the past or present, and will announce during the show why they consider her a heroine. Though most of the performers are female and the bands female-led, there are male feminists there as well.

“The reason that I chose to do that was very specific and deliberate,” Lo Presti said. “I take issue with this particular phenomenon that I run into time and time again… the truth is the black struggle is my struggle, the gay struggle is my struggle and the women’s struggle is my struggle. Any time any minority group is made to have to swallow injustice after injustice after injustice, it is our loss – our collective loss. An injury to one is an injury to all. That is the truth. … That’s why we decided to have some boys up there. My one question to them was, ‘Are you a feminist?’ and they said, ‘Hell yeah.’ I said, ‘Good, you’re on.’”

Part of the proceeds from the event will go to the The Center’s Women’s Resource Center. The resource center serves the needs of San Diego women, particularly lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. A needs assessment survey is underway to better understand what the women of the community need, and the Women’s Resource Center will be enhanced based on the results of the study.

Eveoke Dance Theatre’s artistic director, Gina Angelique, is among the performers, and will dance in what Lo Presti calls “a rare and awesome occasion.” Eveoke Administrative Director Nikki Dunnan will also perform, as well as Alicia Champion, who helped organize the event.

Other performers are Randi Driscoll, Latanya Locket, Nels (formerely Heather Brewer), Elena, davidkidd, Patti Zlaket, Tina Carson, Kevin Wood, The New Dadaists, Simply Complex, Bridget Brigitte, Adrianne, caroline, Mary Dolan, and Nicki Walker.

Admission to “Celebrate Women’s History Month” is $5. Local restaurants will provide food and drink, and Goddess Caffeina will provide coffee. Yum 3 will provide hands on tile-painting activities, and a raffle will be held with prizes donated by female owned businesses.

Prizes in the raffle include a massage and a singing telegram written and performed by Lo Presti. “I will call anybody and I will write a tailor-made, personalized song for their birthday or anniversary and leave it on their answering machine,” she said.

For more information about the event or about the Women’s Resource Center, call Claudia Lucero at (619) 692-2077 or email her at clucero@thecentersd.org. For more information about voter registration, call (619) 692-2077, ext. 212, or e-mail AJ Davis at ajdavisdefeo@thecentersd.org. For additional information about Danielle Lo Presti and The Masses, call (619) 379-4834.