"The Monday Club and the Women Who Built It"

A film by Robin Smith

Screening at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival!

Monday, April 28, 3:30pm

Downtown Centre Cinemas

The 20th century was a time of immense transformation for women. They were discovering that they could have a powerful voice outside of marriage and family. With strength in numbers and new found courage, women’s clubs organized and became catalysts for change, justice and community life.

100 years ago, the Monday Club was swept up in this women's movement.

The creation of the Monday Club would be forged by the work of many. There was Queenie Warden who built a successful women's network only to see it publicly and dramatically fail.

With scattered support from the former club, Grace Barneberg spearheaded the charge to revive the dream and guide its growth.

Julia Morgan, a trailblazing female architect who overcame enormous obstacles, would construct the home for the dynamic women's club that stands today. Julia Morgan designed more than 700 buildings during her career and many, including The Monday Club, were designed exclusively for the use of women.

More than one hundred years later, The Monday Club celebrates its history and the work of the trailblazing architect, Julia Morgan. The Monday Club building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it is the last building Julia Morgan designed specifically for women.

Julia Morgan achieved many "firsts." She was one of the first female engineering students at the University of California, Berkeley, the first woman to pass the entrance exam in architecture for the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (and the school’s first female graduate in architecture), and the first licensed female architect in California.

This is the story of the Monday Club and the women who built it.

2024 Cambria Scarecrow Festival!

Something to Crow About

Every October, local artists stage hundreds of handmade scarecrows throughout Cambria, California. It takes about eight months for volunteers to present the Cambria Scarecrow Festival, which a recent USA Today readers poll named one of the top 10 US fall festivals for tourists to visit.

Robin Smith, a local filmmaker, followed the crow makers over the summer as they whipped Mod Podge, pool noodles, CelluClay, and card board into unique works of art.

"Art brings people together."

At the heart of the story are the community artists (many who don't even know they are artists) who meet every day, collaborating on their creations, at a converted storage unit called Dr. Crow. Follow the crow makers as they overcome challenges and find innovative ways to present the Cambria Scarecrow Festival.

"Having a lean footprint enabled me to become a part of the studio environment and the artists got to a point where they didn't take much notice of me. I think that's one of the strengths of the story.

I captured the work of the crow makers for many months. I was genuinely surprised to experience their joy at creating and collaborating with each other. "Art brings people together."

Something to Crow About premiered at the Cambria Film festival in February 2023 to a packed house! And it screened at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival in 2023.