Weave a Real Peace Annual Meeting June 20-23, 2019
Women and Textiles: A Path to Peace
WARP’s Annual Meeting brings members together for education, fellowship, food, an international marketplace and networking. This year’s meeting will be held at Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center in Washington, DC and features talks, museum tours, and evening programs. We welcome new members to join, and then register for the annual meeting – please become a member here.
Meeting Registration Costs: This cost includes speaker fees, program facility fees, Textile Museum entry, bus to the museum, and meals listed below. For DC locals interested in attending our Saturday program, we have a Single Day Registration option.
- Full Meeting Registration (Early-bird rate for registration before February 17) is $295
- Full Meeting Registration after February 17 is $325
- One Day Registration, including lunch is $95
- One Day Registration, including lunch and dinner is $155
Meals: All provided meals are buffet-style, and will accommodate all dietary needs. Full meeting registration includes breakfast on Friday, all 3 meals on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday.
Housing: There are single and double rooms available at a special lodging rate of $149.00 per room per night (plus 14.8% tax) until May 19. This rate is available to our group for one night before and after the meeting (Check-in on June 19, Check-out on June 24) so if you would like to arrive a day early or stay a day late, you have the option. After you register for the meeting, reserve your room directly with the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center. Please register promptly, as rooms are available until sold out. Communicate with your WARP roommate in advance as only one of you needs to call to make the reservation. If you need assistance finding a roommate, please post in WARP’s Google Group. We have started a "Roommate Needed" thread for members to communicate with one another.
Room Options:
- Comfortable King Room with one king-sized bed. ($149.00/night + 14.8% tax)
- Deluxe Double Room with two full-sized beds. ($149.00/night + 14.8% tax, split between two people is $74.50/night) Note: If you are willing to share a full-sized bed, you are welcome to book a double room for up to 4 people, to lower the per-person cost.
Booking:
- Click here to book your room online. To get our special event discount, you must book through this link. You will be able to select the number of nights and the type of room.
- Call 202-687-3200 to reserve your housing by telephone. When you call, make sure to say that you are with WARP, and name your roommate(s).
Financial Assistance: WARP has a Scholarship Program for students and young professionals under the age of 35 to attend our annual meeting. We also have an Assistantship Program for our simple-living members who would benefit from financial assistance. For information on how to apply for financial assistance, please visit our scholarship page.
Cancellation Policy: 100% of the registration fee is refundable through March 27, 2019. Until May 5, 2019 there will be a refund of 50%. After May 5, 2019, there will be no refund.
Tentative Schedule
Thursday evening June 20th: We open with our annual Welcome Circle
Friday we’ll visit the Textile Museum and have a private Meet the Curator event; as well an afternoon free to visit other museums with fellow WARP members. In the evening we have interactive textile activities and socializing planned.
- Chapuchi “Bobbo" Ahiagble will bring 2 African looms for Kente Weaving. He is the only Ewe Kente Weaver in the DC area.
- Cynthia Alberto, founder of the Brooklyn-based healing arts studio Weaving Hand, will be bringing a special interactive loom for WARP members to experience and use together.
- Laura Lemunyete: An advocate for women’s improved livelihood in Northern Kenya, Laura is a powerful force behind the revival of traditional doum palm baskets. She will demonstrate this basketry technique on Friday evening, and we will also hear her speak about her work in Kenya during Saturday’s program.
- Marcos Brown and Kalindi Attar, founders of Khadi Oaxaca, will be sharing the process of hand spinning cotton thread. Inspired by the life and vision of Mahatma Gandhi, they work with more than 250 families working to revive local traditions in Oaxaca, Mexico. The cotton is ecologically grown on the coast of Oaxaca. In the mountains it is carded, spun, woven and embroidered by hand, using only natural, local plant dyes. All income received is invested in fostering self-sufficiency and a sustainable economy in the indigenous communities where they live.
- Lisa Raye Garlock is Assistant Professor at the George Washington University Graduate Art Therapy Program. She also works with the international non-profit, Common Threads Project, co-training therapists in using story cloths, along with other interventions to help women recover from the trauma of gender-based violence. Her recent sabbatical project was creating the Storycloth Database, an online resource that highlights collections of story cloths that focus on human rights issues. She was also able to focus on her own story cloth work, creating a series of cloths relating to the current immigration issues here in the US.
Saturday will include our WARP business meeting, scholarship presentations, and presentations on our theme Women & Textiles: A Path to Peace. Our confirmed speakers are:
- Yasmine Dabbous, PhD, is a Beirut-born visual culture artist and researcher. Formerly a journalism and cultural studies scholar, Dabbous founded Kinship Stories, a line of tribal art necklaces revolving around values, stories and craftsmanship.
- Laura Lemunyete, born and raised in Wisconsin, has been living in Kenya since 1994, working primarily with women’s groups on livelihood enhancement projects that range from camel management and water source development to children’s education support and income generation activities. She has been working with, and a member of, the Ngurunit Basket Weaver’s Cooperative Society for almost 20 years assisting the group to develop and market their product.
- Elka M. Stevens, PhD, teaches in the Department of Art at Howard University. In addition to teaching in both the United States and Ghana, West Africa, Dr. Stevens has worked as a fashion writer, a product development specialist for Aid to Artisans in Ghana and for the Ministry of Trade and Modernization of the Capital City, both in Accra, Ghana; a micro-enterprise trainer for the Peace Corps in Ghana; a technology trainer for the Ghana Tourism Capacity Development Initiative, a marketing project in Accra, Ghana and in numerous positions in the retail industry.
Saturday evening will include a reception and book signing featuring several new books by WARP members, a dinner together, and both live and silent auctions, as well as a screening of the film Threads, with a discussion led by producer Cathy Stevulak. Thrums Books will be rolling out 2 new publications at the reception that they are sponsoring - thank you, Thrums! The featured books will be:
- A Textile Traveler's Guide to Guatemala, Deborah Chandler, Published by Thrums Books
- A Textile Traveler's Guide to Peru and Bolivia, Cynthia LeCount Samaké, Published by Thrums Books
- Threads Around the World: From Arabian Weaving to Batik in Zimbabwe, Deborah Brandon, Published by Schiffer Publishing
Our International Marketplace is open on Friday and Saturday, as is the Silent Auction.
Sunday morning we will have brunch and adjourn. Those with flexibility can easily spend another day in DC. Dumbarton Oaks, which has a great pre-Colombian collection, is only a ten minute walk from the Center.
Please email any questions to info@weavearealpeace.org
WARP’s mission is to foster a global network of enthusiasts who value the importance of textiles to grassroots economies. Our purpose is to exchange information, raise awareness of the importance textile traditions to grassroots economies, mobilize textile enthusiasts and create conversations that result in action. Learn more at Weave a Real Peace.
WARP reserves the right to use photographs and video taken at WARP events for marketing purposes including, but not limited to, on social media, on our various websites, and in print and/or e-mail marketing campaigns. By registering for a WARP event, you authorize WARP to use your likeness without additional permission for these purposes.
