Ithaca’s 47th Annual Take Back the Night is on Friday, April 24. Our local TBTN event joins people from three college campuses, local high schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities throughout Ithaca and Tompkins County. We gather as survivors, supporters, allies, and agents of change. Together, we bear witness to harms that have been done and hold hope for a future without sexual and relationship violence.
March Information:
March to the Ithaca Commons with friends, family, teammates, coworkers, and neighbors. We welcome signs, banners and/or clothes that highlight groups who choose to act in solidarity with survivors and speak against domestic and sexual violence. We will teach you some march chants; teach us your favorites.
- Ithaca College March: leaves Textor Ball at 6:15pm
- Cornell University March: leaves Ho Plaza at 6:30pm
- Community March: leaves from GIAC lawn (Greater Ithaca Activities Center, 301 West Court St, Ithaca) on the corner of West Court and North Albany at 6:40pm
Rally at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Commons from 7-9pm. Guest speakers, music and candlelight vigil. Join us between 6:30 and 7pm to welcome marchers as they arrive.
Get Involved:
2026 Theme
For 2026, the theme of Take Back the Night is “Give us our roses, too.” This theme was derived from a poem by James Oppenheim that was integrated into the women’s suffrage and labor unions movements who began using language of needing “bread and roses” to emphasize that not only did they want the means and support to survive, they wanted to be treated with respect, dignity, and given the means to thrive. This year, we want to emphasize that survivors of domestic and sexual violence deserve not only to be allowed survival, but they deserve to have their roses too. To have these clear connections to historical protests and marginalized populations will create a more intersectional and accessible Take Back the Night. We would like the artwork for this event to integrate the theme, but outside of that, please be as creative as you would like.
Take Back the Night T-shirts
Support Ithaca’s annual Take Back the Night with your purchase of a 2026 TBTN shirt designed by Evan Beyerle, a member of this years’ planning committee.
Buy online now and pick up your shirt before the rally or at the rally on the 24th! Sunny Days will also be open to sell shirts during the event! Can’t be at the rally? Have your 2026 TBTN shirt delivered! Or, pick it up at Sunny Days of Ithaca on the Commons. If you bring your own shirt/clothing item to print on, Sunny Days is offering a 50% off discount, bringing the cost to $10!
Thank you to Red Jacket Orchards and Sunny Days for partnering with us to offer these shirts as a TBTN fundraiser.
Artwork for Take Back the Night
2026 Featured Artists:
This year, we have decided to feature four local artists, scroll to learn more about them and the work they have created.
Title: The Curator, Artist: Allison Mae
Artist Statement: A curator decides what is important enough to remember. Individual people, particularly women, are lost to history. This painting pays homage to the stories forgotten during the suffragette movement; the ones left untold by The Curator.
Artist website: https://www.allisonmadeart.com
Title: Made of the Light, Artist: Monique Flynn
Artist Bio: Monique Flynn is a queer poet and artist from the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ ancestral homelands. Rooted in a decolonial praxis, her work embodies topics of identity, culture, class, gender, trauma, resistance, and resilience. Flynn incorporates poetry, storytelling, performance, literary arts, photography, music, and film in her work.
Artist Statement: Through my creative practice, I found an outlet to tell my story as a CSA, child abuse, and domestic violence survivor. As an artist, poet, and survivor, I believe that we are not just meant to survive, we are meant to thrive. “Made of the Light”, is a photograph of a light through glass projection of a field of flowers on the east side of Cayuga Lake. “Made of the light”, a celebration of joy, turned towards the sun.
Title: Blossoming, Artist: Rebecca Daniel
Bio/Statement: Through collage I find peace, focus, and a greater sense of my worth. Friends, particularly women, have encouraged me in my artwork. Too many of them have been the victims of sexual abuse. Creating this canvas provided me with time to think about how much my friends have endured. I’ve seen their vulnerability and their amazing strength.
Leafing through magazines with an eye on finding a variety of women who epitomized strength and joy was enlightening. Too many models evoked a different allure. I hope the women I chose look empowered and truly happy. I wish for all those who have been victims of sexual abuse to find peace, self-worth, and some of the empowerment and happiness shown on the included faces.
Instagram: @dis_organization_collage
Title: Rose Edge, Artist: Susan C. Larkin
Contact: spclarkin@icloud.com
To learn more about this artist: https://spclarkin.abstracttools.com/
Please come back to this page and follow us on @advocacyTC on Instagram/Facebook for updates! For parking and transportation information, click here.