Profile

Cultural Arts Producer Jamie O'Reilly is spearheading "Imperfect Balance: Women Before Us, Beside Us, Among Us", a year-long multi-disciplinary arts project with the newly formed Women's Art Series Connective, a group of gifted women writers, performers and visual artists, whose theme this year explores the power and beauty of creating art out of trauma.

"Countless creative women have suffered from trauma, depression or mental illness," says O'Reilly, a Chicago-based arts activist and performer. "This project focuses on artistic expression as a path to insight and growth; an avenue to empowerment for women in history, and for women today." The project "Imperfect Balance: Women Before Us, Beside Us, Among Us", produced in cooperation with the Irish American Heritage Center, culminates in a weekend performance and visual art series during Chicago's Women's History Month 2007.

"This project is a vehicle to explore how art can provide a life raft in the storm," says O'Reilly. Showcasing professionally wrought, strong pieces of art and theatre, it is O'Reilly's aim to make Imperfect Balance a "Provocative example of women who used creative expression as a positive way to process trauma." Throughout the event, both audience and participants will be given an opportunity to be enlightened by the message and encouraged to manage their own traumatic experiences in a healing way.