Femme Fest

Scheduled to have finally received its Certificate of Occupancy permit from the city last week, the volunteers at the DIY music and community venue Phoenix Project Collective have a lot to celebrate, so they're sharing the occasion with other organizations close to their hearts with a two-day festival to benefit Texas Equal Access Fund (which funds abortions for women who otherwise couldn't afford them) as well as the collective itself. Various political and/or humanitarian organizations will also be represented.

Along with food from Spiral Diner and Sunday's art auction, the fest will feature self-defense, bike-maintenance and "DIY Birth Control" (we hesitate to ask) workshops, and an appearance from feminist poet Tammy Gomez. The next-door lot offers music on an outdoor stage from 3 p.m. to midnight both days. From the bratty sax-squawking of Orange Coax to the cello-accented, jazz-influenced indie-rock of Chasing the Muse to Charlie Mancini, the newest project from former Pump'n Ethyl singer Turner Van Blarcum, an impressively diverse lineup of punk-rock, experimental, electronic and jazz acts will provide the soundtrack. All acts include at least one female musician save St. Louis' "Dumbest Band On Earth," Dude Nukem, who will play in drag. Lineups are organized roughly in order of volume, with jazz and ambient acts playing the afternoon and harsher acts scheduled later in the night.

Donations of $10 per day go to the collective and the TEA Fund, though collective co-founder Jessica Luther says pro-life attendees can request their contributions go solely to the collective.