Highlighting the female perspective in a completely new and perhaps even unexpected way

“The only comments you ever hear from people who have had an abortion are really heartbreaking stories (…). You see these stories all the time in soap operas, and I understand why. It makes for good drama. It’s really important that people hear about women who have had abortions and who are actually doing well with it,” said the then 26-year-old Lynn Miles (26) in an interview with The Guardian in 2006.

Larisa Faber’s project GOOD GIRLS, which is quite unexpected but utterly important in this day and age, is dedicated to this very idea. Through a theatre performance and an accompanying publication, she presents the experiences of women from Luxembourg, Lithuania and Great Britain who have had a voluntary abortion. Written in a cheeky and perhaps somewhat disrespectful manner, emotionally charged but nevertheless with a certain lightness, this project aims to present the experiences of different women in order to bring them closer to the audience.

A second project is dedicated to a domain where the role and experiences of women are still underestimated or not sufficiently highlighted: we are talking about sports. Even in today’s inclusive and cosmopolitan mindset, soccer, for example, remains a mostly male-dominated domain. The fact that there are also a lot of successful women’s teams, however, is hardly talked about. Tessy Troes, on the initiative of the project Um Ball – 50 Joer Fraefussball zu Lëtzebuerg aims to counteract this situation. By making the very first documentary film on this subject, they tell the story of how the Luxembourg women’s football league came into being, how it developed over the decades and what role it will play in the future.

In the same spirit, Claude Weber makes it possible to explore life at the time of the Luxembourg composer Helen Buchholz from Esch-Alzette in the Bridderhaus. The project around Le Salon de Helen Buchholtz puts a very special focus on this enigmatic personality, her music, her family and her activities, her environment, her hometown Esch-Alzette as well as the European context of the time. Born in Esch-Alzette, Helen Buchholtz (1877 – 1953) composed around 138 musical works inspired, among other things, by jazz, the variété and the café-concerts that were very popular at the time. She occupies a special place in Luxembourg’s, and most importantly Esch’s, musical history.

The programme of this project includes various events, including concerts, readings, lectures, film screenings, educational workshops, master classes, an exhibition and guided tours in a rather unexpected setting. Above all, these events are intended to encourage young female musicians to live out their musical talents. But don’t worry: of course, any interested boys are welcome to join in as well!