(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Good evening and welcome to "Generation Rising."

I'm Aniridis Rodriguez.

Tonight we're joined by Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director of the Womxn Project, April Reudaflores, Chair of the Board of Directors.

And Gaby Cantu, a young artist and activist whose work focuses on advocacy through art.

The Womxn Project is a Rhode Island-based organization dedicated to advancing social justice, human rights, and gender equity through legislative advocacy and creative activism.

June of 2025 will mark three years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and tonight we'll explore what that has meant for many women here in Rhode Island and how the Womxn Project is championing reproductive freedom in our state and beyond.

Jocelyn, April, Gaby, welcome.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thank you for being here.

Jocelyn, we'll start with you.

Tell us about the Womxn Project, how you started, and you've achieved quite a lot in your relatively short period of time.

- Well, thank you.

The Womxn Project was formed right after the 2016 election, and I lived in a community where there was a lot of energy and a lot of interest to do something about what was being seen on television in the response to that moment.

And so as a result, a number of artists and policy folks got together and said, "What can we do about it?"

And so it was that awesome merging of those two worlds that started us on a path of seeing what we could do to make a difference as a small baby not-for-profit.

Still are very small, but do big things, and bringing people along in the process to make this type of work accessible.

- One of those big achievements happened in 2019.

Tell us about it.

- It did.

So our major beginning was about 2017.

And so for two years we organized folks to show up at the State House to meet up for quilting bees, to meet in cafes and build networks that supported the passage of a bill that gave Rhode Islanders the right to have abortion care.

And so it was protecting the providers in Rhode Island who were doing that work, and it allowed the safety of that to continue without like sending people out of state.

And so that was huge.

And there are only 23 states in the United States, still, that have that right.

- Yeah.

And we'll talk about, in a moment, what that means for Rhode Island as the country enters new leadership.

Right?

- Yeah.

- But April, I wanna talk to you about how you came along into the organization, because this is very personal for you.

We were talking about it off camera.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So I was part of the community back in 2017 and witnessing the mobilization of a place to go to be heard and to have a voice and to go to commiserate what was happening since the 2016 election.

I joined the Womxn Project about three years ago.

And, you know, what I've seen and what I've heard, and also what I've watched over the course of the past couple of years, is that is expanded to different parts of our community, such as LGBTQIA, which I'm a part of, also marginalized communities.

Being Hispanic, being a woman who grew up in Los Angeles from an immigrant mother from Central Mexico, there was always challenges of where could we go or where could I be accepted to have a voice and to get involved.

People have different learning appetites, different tactics, and it was the Womxn Project that, it wasn't just about the written words, but it was about the visual storytelling.

And I saw that there was a need in Rhode Island that from different backgrounds and cultures, is that we have an inclusive environment of how to reach and communicate these individuals and our neighbors.

And so the knowing where we are for 2025, I felt very, a lot of passion, and wanted to give back to the community of where I felt suppressed when I was young.

And now I feel empowered, seen, and heard, and I wanna give that back to the young emerging humans that we are all exposed to and wanna support to rise their voices in Rhode Island.

- Yeah, wow.

Thank you.

And Gaby, you live at this intersection of, which is really unique about this organization, art and activism.

How did you come along to be part of the Womxn Project and what's the type of work that you do?

- Yeah, so thank you.

I, you know, was introduced to the Womxn Project about a little over a year ago.

And I was really drawn by the invitation to not just make, but make with purpose and make with purpose to build community and coalitions.

I think that a lot of what we've seen in the political climate can be really discouraging and brings a lot of fear.

But what I've really been inspired by, I went to RISD and I was really drawn by folk art and creative practices that are relegated as craft.

And I think that that kind of creative practice inspires a lot of people to come from the angles of disability, from the angle of being a woman, from the angle of, you know, not having access to a lot of expensive materials, right?

So being inspired to use what you have to, you know, express yourself and bring power to action from these different perspectives.

And I think the Womxn Project does that really beautifully.

It's not just making for the sake of being seen in certain spaces, it's making to be heard and to make things as a community.

- You talk a lot about bodily autonomy, bodily freedom.

Why do you believe in that?

What does that mean to you?

- I think sometimes language really is challenging, as April was referring to.

And we were looking for ways to talk to folks who didn't just use English language to understand that we are fighting for them and their ability to have independence and choose to do things in the world, the way they fit their culture or their identity, or just how they wanna live without being over controlled.

And the movement that we're a part of in general across the country uses language like bodily autonomy.

But when you think about that word, those words, it's sometimes really hard.

And so we said, "Okay, how do you play with the freedoms that this brings with it?

And what are the topics that fall within that?"

And there's so many.

And because we're a small not-for-profit, or nonprofit, excuse me, we are focusing specifically on reproductive freedoms.

And we're specifically focusing on creating similarly gender-affirming care freedoms because those are such similar advocate work-based topics.

And so we use the idea of freedom, which was a huge topic in Vice President Harris's campaign as well, to re-own and retake back that important language and to really carry forward into the questionable future that we all have and continuing to uplift the importance of that.

- Yeah, the last political election in 2024- - Yeah.

- revealed a lot, especially for people and activists who are working in this sector, right?

In Rhode Island it was eye-opening.

There is a political shift.

How do you navigate through that change and people who push back against the idea of women's right to choose?

- That's a great question and it has a lot of parts.

But simply put, we are passionate about this type of work, and we believe that it's a fundamental right, it's a human right.

And that to have any form of medical care, any form of support from community, from neighbors, even from the government, we would expect that no one procedure, no one form of healthcare should be removed and said that that is not safe.

We know the work we do from an advocacy standpoint is very safe, and it's very important to maintain and just keep as a part of the entire, like going and having a flu shot.

Like these things are complicated to compare, but when it comes down to it, it's for the safety of the individuals.

And when the individuals determine what they need, we need to listen.

- Yeah, and we're starting to see the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade across the country.

Now we're going into a new administration where there is a threat to reproductive freedoms and reproductive rights.

What are you gearing up for as activists as we enter into this new administration?

- Yeah, I maybe, if I can just respond, is knowledge, you know?

There's an unknown.

We don't know what's gonna happen, but we have a good indicator of the past to know how to move forward.

And part of our organization is doing research, having accessibility to this information, having a place to go to, whether it be digital or in person, and having a conversation.

So a big part of the next six months, certainly starting in a few weeks, is having a space where people can go to and ask questions, provide insight, and us to provide back of some of the guidance or things that we worked out for that might impact them or set their values and beliefs back.

- And, Jocelyn, I wanna ask you about the impact locally.

What is the reality for women in Rhode Island when it comes to protections?

- Sure, so anyone that has a uterus is really nervous right now.

Anyone who relies on gender-affirming care is very feeling very attacked.

And locally, what we have in front of us is a state and even a governor that has said that we support the people's right to choose for their own health and how they're going to handle it.

What we don't know, and so much of the uncertainty that April was speaking on, is that you have a federal government that is going to dictate so many new things that we've never seen before, or expected to.

And what our state compared to the states that we are in between and how we have to bend to answer the demands of that administration is gonna be very unique to Rhode Island.

So for example, we in Rhode Island are gonna require to get the federal check that we receive every year from our, and we're gonna have to do whatever it takes that they demand of our state to do, to get that money.

We wouldn't be able to pay for infrastructural replacements, roads, we wouldn't be able to take care of people who are on different forms of healthcare services.

And so it's a huge range and we're hopeful that it's not as extreme as it could be.

But part of the federal plan is to scare everyone.

And it's to just keep people on their toes.

I will pivot and say we, as a small organization and not having a huge not-for-profit parent somewhere in Washington, D.C. or someplace else, allows us to be a set of leaders who come around a table and say, "Well, how are we going to pivot?

And what moment do we need to do that in?"

And sometimes it's very quick.

Typically, we have had the ability to be super quick and responsive, but we also are preparing for a future where we have to be more thoughtful and careful.

And it may take a different form because, again, we are determining that as we go.

- Hmm, I found it interesting that, in my research ahead of this show, that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortions are actually up.

You are doing research as well.

You are holding people who have office accountable.

I know you have an index and you called around and you asked them where they stand on reproductive rights.

Talk to me about what the research is showing and the realities for women across the country when it comes to access and what the Dobbs decision has done to impact that.

- Well, Rhode Island is the third most Catholic state in the United States.

And even though we're only 1.1 million humans in these small borders, we have a very powerful Catholic Church.

As a result of that, we are in a place where we follow, we track the national statistics in terms of voting.

And so 42% of Rhode Islanders voted for Trump this last election.

And that was a a huge eye-opener for a ton of folks.

But as we built what we call the Bodily Freedom Forever Index, and yes, we went around and we asked anyone who was running for elected office how they felt about the protections of LGBTQIA folks, the right to have reproductive health.

We would say they were for it, or they were against it.

It wasn't really hard to do.

We found, and we weren't surprised that a lot of people didn't want to answer.

And oftentimes that's very much its own answer, right?

But we also found for the people who did respond, it was very in favor of that.

And so I think that some of the things that are most on our minds and the things that we're paying the closest attention to is very much related to what's happening from the federal organizing of the far right coming into Rhode Island and what form that's taking within our school committees.

- Yeah.

So how do you push back against those challenges?

You use art to do so.

Tell us about your exhibitions.

Gaby, why don't we start with you?

- Absolutely.

So I think a lot of what April and Jocelyn are both speaking to is the community building that is so central to the Womxn Project.

And that happens through inspiring others to come together, come to a table, come to a maker's night, come to a space where they're able to put their energy into creating something.

Even if that's not on a large scale, it puts energy toward creating, right?

And that creates a community around energizing and mobilizing and just kind of starting with one step at a time.

It's a space for educating ourselves, for building solidarity.

And that's really powerful.

That creates energy to go to the State House, that creates energy to do a fundraiser exhibition like Advocacy is Love.

And that, it just reinforces the people power that's so central to this work.

- How can art drive that change?

Like what is it about art that evokes that emotion from people?

As an artist yourself.

- Yeah.

- What connects you to it?

- Totally.

I think it's, art is such a powerful tool for not just speaking truth to power about something personal.

Like whether it means, you know, what it's like to be a woman, what it's like to be a person in working class status, what it means to be disabled.

All of these things are so personal, but connecting.

I think the power of art is to have a visual representation of the personal and have it resonate across a wide audience.

I think that that it's really powerful to see what the Womxn Project does.

And that's what drew me in.

- What is the... Go ahead.

- Yeah, if I can just add to that.

So one of the things that we all have in common that we all have backgrounds in education and art from an art degree.

And just to add, is that it's an expression of what art can come across from a verbal to a visual is getting that emotion out.

And that's something that part of the Womxn Project is to get the energy out.

And then when you're around a community and in an in-person or an event, that energy is contagious.

You know, people are smiling, they're leaving smiling, and that could refill you for days, for weeks, for months.

And that's a part of what these in-person events are about is to fill that us with energy, positive energy.

- What are you looking forward to the most this year?

What can you tell our audience about what's coming up and how they can become engaged?

- Well, we are starting to make a series of these maker days that you both have mentioned.

We just ended one a couple days ago.

We're gonna be making giant cardboard letters.

We're putting 'em out in front of the State House that say "bodily freedom."

They're lit up, they're kind of cool and they're gonna be carried around in different parts of the state.

We're making little activist hubs, which we're gonna meet up in different spaces in all 38 Senate districts.

We're gonna start meeting the folks who are doing the work in those districts to stand up to the school committees who are possibly challenging the rights of the trans and gender-diverse youth who need the protections that the schools are supposed to provide but the parents are saying they don't want.

And we see huge like community, we see neighbor building, we see a lot of ways that, for example, coming out at an art event, a woman who met us two days ago said, "Well, when are we doing this again?

How soon can we do it?

And let me help, and I'll take it to my crafter friends.

We'll all work on this in front of our televisions.

Or we could do it in company."

I will say quickly, as the story goes, we have moments that are of surprise.

And I think that it's all about, I often say this is heart-based work first and then it's head-based work.

Because we all come to it with such big hearts and hope.

And I'm gonna hold on to hope this year and the year to follow and know that it's gonna be about who we surround ourselves and how we tap in and what we're able to give.

But, also, as someone who does too much, learning how to say, "What do I need to do to take care of me and family?"

I will say we've had moments.

The night the Roe decision was overturned, we held a rally at the State House.

We had a hot-air balloon that we projected on.

We had speakers that were from the executive committee or executive board of our government.

And a woman came to me afterwards and said, "That night, I didn't think I could feel anything but sadness."

And she's like, "but I saw that hot-air balloon, I saw the projections, I saw our treasurer and our secretary of state and our lieutenant governor speaking in support of our needs."

And she goes, "That gave me hope."

And so we walk away going, "We can do this work for good while also making change at the local level and at the policy state level.

And we're gonna keep trying as long as we can."

And it just, it's a lot of work, but it's heart-based work.

And then more.

- Yeah.

Anything you wanna add to that, April?

I know that you work in tandem and as the board of directors, how does that influence, and your lived experience influence the work that you do?

- Yeah, no, great question.

So I think as we talk about initiatives and campaigns, is understanding who we're reaching and the inclusivity of it, but also with thinking about not just our own generation, but the generations that are coming up from what we are hoping to achieve and watermark for generations that follow just beyond 2025.

So I think for us it's creating a great foundation and framework and building blocks for the now and also for the future.

So when we think about projects, it's, yes, it's for the now, the impact, but the influence it's gonna bring three years from now.

So those are the types of things that we have discussions in our board.

- Yeah, and the education aspect of it is also very interesting.

You mentioned that you're very involved in school committee races, in local races.

What is the call to action to the neighbors in our communities to come out and support LGBTQ rights and also reproductive rights?

- I would say honestly, we are supporting the issue, less the people, but giving them the tools that if they wanted to try and run for elected office, we can show them the path to get there and have the support they need, that it's not as scary once you sort of demystify the process and show them what it's like and what the people's response and behaviors are.

I will say, in thinking about this too, one thing that we're going to do in hopes to build these community hubs, which we've already started this last year because we were moving around the state so much, is that we're gonna start teaching folks how to become their own artivists, how to start doing this work where they feel like if they're shy, that there's processes and styles that they can do that are just as impactful as folks who are loud and willing to sit in front of a camera and have an interview.

And so projections and creating comic books and different types of tools and we're finding different ways to do it and people are coming along and so a dream will be, one night there's 60 different projections happening in Rhode Island.

All different topics, all different types of people's artwork being projected that speak to their truth and their needs.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- For you, what do you believe is at stake if there isn't an organization like the Womxn Project, you know, spearheading these efforts?

- That's a nice question.

Thank you.

You know what?

We're an unusual thing.

People don't always understand what we are and how we do it.

So I appreciate the chance to to tell it.

But what's at stake is so much, and the state has so many incredible not-for-profits who do such great work.

And my dream would be some of us kind of intersect a little bit more tightly and use each other's strengths because this is gonna tap people in ways that I don't think we've ever been challenged before.

To not have a Womxn Project, I think that you have a ton of folks who do this as individuals.

I think there's so much of those strength in numbers, and that's how we passed our legislation in 2019.

That's how we got Medicaid to include abortion care in their insurance policy in 2023.

And so I think it's about who you have along with you.

It's about the team and the family and the neighbors and then the community.

And it's basically encouraging people to become bold and feel a confidence in speaking their voice.

And if not, finding another way to do it.

- And you're speaking for people who can't, people who are vulnerable, people who don't have access to.

Can you talk to us about the vulnerable communities you mentioned?

Who are they?

- Typically, when we're doing this work, the folks who struggle with the day-to-day and how they're doing their job and how they have to support a family, they don't have time to think about how can they advocate for themselves.

They just have to put food on the table.

They just have to make rent if they have a house.

And so what we often are fighting for is the ability for healthcare to be included for everyone.

And so that there isn't about a socioeconomic breakdown.

It's about who needs it and it's received for that person.

But we typically, here in Rhode Island, are seeing marginalized communities from a race standpoint, from a gender standpoint, from a disability standpoint is massive.

Our infrastructure doesn't support so many disabled folks in so many ways that they can't get in and out of buildings.

So we take on small pieces, again, 'cause we're a small not for-profit, but, again, hoping to put out the tools that can foster more advocacy from more of these amazing not-for-profits doing the work too.

Maybe just not in this way, but hoping we can share these tools and skills.

- Yeah.

We're running out of time, but, Gaby, I wanna ask, is there any specific project that you're working on in the future that you're excited about?

- Yeah, I'm excited to share that I'm going to be a co-curator for this year's Advocacy is Love exhibition.

So if everyone can keep an eye on out for that, it's gonna be up in March this year.

So we're gonna have some great artists from across the country donating artwork to help fund this work.

- That's amazing.

And you also have something going on tomorrow.

I know we're not in real-time right now, we're in another metaverse, but you're gonna be at the State House, I mean, the 6th of January and you're off and running.

- First day of session.

Yeah.

You gotta be a presence, you've gotta say "We're watching."

And especially with whatever the future holds, we need to say that we're not going away.

That we will be a voice and we're gonna do it in a way that brings other folks along.

People wanna make the work that we're doing to put out in front of the State House.

They wanna hold up the letters that we're making at a cardboard or they wanna speak, but there's pieces and parts for everyone.

And, yeah, we're gonna be there and we're gonna do a quick thing.

It'll be on, I encourage everyone to go to our Instagram account.

That is where we put everything in real time.

And we have two websites.

We have a sister sibling that does the arts and education, and we have the other one that does a lot of the lobbying and policy work.

And so the two a dance all the time in terms of how they make it work.

And both those websites will show the work that we do and how to do it.

But you can get involved, whether it be in your town or in general.

We have a lot of different ways.

- Well, thank you so much for what you do.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you for taking the time to come and talk to us today.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you for having us.

Thank you.

- We have run out of time and we would like to thank tonight's guests, Jocelyn Foye, April Reudaflores, and Gaby Cantu.

You can watch this episode and all our past episodes anytime at ripbs.org/generationrising, or listen to us wherever you get your podcast.

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