Whether it's stylish and decorative or utilitarian and crammed full of everything she owns, a woman's purse can say a lot about who she is. The Women's Foundation of Arkansas hopes to hear and share those stories as they collaborate with the ESSE Purse Museum & Store for the Evening Bag fundraiser. The theme? "Show your #PURSEnality."
The Women's Foundation of Arkansas is an organization that promotes philanthropy among women across the state by providing grants to groups that help women and girls. It also hosts Girls of Promise, a conference for eighth-grade girls that encourages interest in STEM careers and activities, and recently teamed up with universities to begin research initiatives on the educational and financial effects of teen pregnancy.
It's a mission that's close to the hearts of Evening Bag's co-chairmen, Abby Olivier, community relations manager for the Clinton School Center on Community Philanthropy, and Erin Riley, manager of corporate programs at Peacework.
Riley says, "For both of us, it's a really important organization as young professional women to volunteer for and to support."
For more than 15 years, the foundation's main fundraising and outreach event has been Power of the Purse -- a business luncheon with speakers and awards, taking place Sept. 30 this year. But last year, the group began to experiment with a new kind of fundraiser in hopes of drawing in a younger crowd.
The foundation and the ESSE Purse Museum teamed up for an evening party with music, drinks, hors d'oeuvres and museum tours. It was, Olivier explains, "a trial fundraiser," an experiment to see if an event of that type would work as an annual activity. Despite a tornado that drove the party from the parking lot tent to safety inside the museum, it was successful enough that they're going all-out this year for Evening Bag 2015.
Once again, they'll set up a tent in the parking lot. Charlotte Taylor will sing while guests mingle, sample drinks and hors d'oeuvres, look at artwork presented by local high school students and go inside to explore the museum and store. The point is to be relaxed.
And the hope is that those people who are drawn in will take advantage of the opportunity to learn about Women's Foundation of Arkansas programs and how they're working to support women and the financial growth of Arkansas.
The Evening Bag event is part of an attempt to increase the organization's presence on social media. Women are invited to take a special purse to show off. There will be a photo booth and everyone will be encouraged to post their photos to Instagram or Facebook with the #PURSEnality hashtag for the chance to win prizes.
Also being added is a philanthropic component, raising money for foundation programs and for the museum with a silent auction of specially designed red purses.
"Most of them are exclusive to this event, which means there's not a purse like it anywhere in the world," Olivier explains. "Which is a unique opportunity for an Arkansas woman to get to buy this red purse that no one else in the world has."
For the ESSE Purse Museum, the event will help debut a new exhibit, "Arkansas Women of Note," featuring purses donated by prominent Arkansans. The plan is to have two purses inducted every year at Evening Bag, with Ginger Beebe and Mary Steenburgen stepping up to be the inaugural donors. (Steenburgen won't be able to attend, but Media Relations Director Laura Hardy says she has filmed "a real sweet video." Beebe will be there.)
The collaboration between the museum and foundation is a natural fit, Olivier, Riley and Hardy say. The museum is a social history museum, telling the story of the 20th-century American woman through a key part of her wardrobe, and following her progression from tiny, decorative cases to functional bags designed to carry diapers and business files. It's also a business that is owned, managed and staffed by women.
Hardy says, "[Museum visitors] learn a lot, but a lot of people just have a good time because they see purses they had when they were young or they see purses they remember their grandmothers carrying. Some people get sentimental and cry."
Lest it sound too estrogen-heavy, though, everyone is quick to point out that this event is not intended to be for women only.
"Even though we have a purse on the invitation and we're celebrating women, we know that men are integral parts of women's lives," Olivier says.
Women's Foundation of Arkansas has a men's advisory board that plays an important role in the organization, and Hardy points out that the museum shop carries an array of men's products in addition to purses.
The hope is that this event will help draw attention and donations to the museum and foundation, which wants to build up its base of support and expand its programs across Arkansas.
"It's important to continue to support the work that the Women's Foundation is doing to encourage and give opportunities to young women across the state," Riley says. "To allow women to continue supporting other women, as well as [for] the men of the state to recognize what an important counterpart the women here are to the success of the entire state."
Evening Bag is 6-8 p.m. Oct. 1 at the ESSE Purse Museum & Store, 1510 S. Main St., Little Rock. Tickets are $50. Call (501) 244-9740 or visit womensfoundationarkansas.org.
High Profile on 09/20/2015