Genesis Women’s Shelter is going big this year.
The Dallas nonprofit, which supports domestic violence victims, is wrapping up a $20 million capital campaign and is in the process of moving into a new building that will enhance the nonresidential services it offers to thousands of women and children annually. It recently started an occupational therapy program with a particular emphasis on child trauma recovery. And it seeks to raise $1.3 million at its upcoming annual luncheon, its largest fundraising event of the year.
Sponsorships for the May 12 event are already at least 40 percent full — largely because Genesis snagged Nicole Kidman as this year’s keynote speaker. Corporate sponsors so far include Munck Wilson Mandala, Energy Transfer, Texas Capital Bank, TXU Energy and Children’s Health. (To sponsor, click here or contact events@genesisshelter.org).
The award-winning actress was originally slated to keynote the 2020 annual luncheon in light of her 2019 high-powered female roles in Bombshell and Big Little Lies. Kidman particularly captured Genesis’ attention for her harrowing performance as Big Little Lies’ Celeste Wright, an enviable and wealthy corporate-lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mom who, behind closed doors, is abused by her husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård). The HBO series, based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, follows a group of Monterey moms as they navigate interwoven traumas; sometimes petty, sometimes serious drama at their kids’ elementary school; and a murder mystery of a citizen in their community.
But just as tickets to the luncheon sold out in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Genesis moved the 2020 luncheon to a virtual event, which Kidman participated in. The nonprofit decided to bring her back as this year’s speaker to commemorate the luncheon’s 30th anniversary.
“As convenient as virtual events may be, they don’t do it justice and we just know we have so much more to talk with [Kidman] about,” Amy Norton, Genesis’ senior director of fund development, told The Texas Lawbook.
Beyond the monetary aspect of the event, which will help raise funds for Genesis’ $12.6 million 2023 operating budget, Norton said the luncheon is instrumental in raising awareness about domestic violence.
“We hope to have about 1,600 people in the audience … to raise awareness in our community about the prevalence of this issue, this plague in our community and the impact it has,” she said. “Domestic violence affects one in four women in the U.S. But in Texas that number is one in three.”
Kidman is famously known to utilize method acting, a multifaceted technique in which actors stay in character — sometimes for prolonged periods — to connect more deeply with the psyche of their role. More recently, Kidman employed this technique while portraying Masha, an enigmatic Russian healing guru who runs a wellness resort in the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers (another film adaptation of a Liane Moriarty novel that Kidman starred in and executive produced). Kidman stayed in the role for the entire five months on set, refusing to respond to her real name.
In other interviews, Kidman opened up about how her method acting personally affected her in Big Little Lies. It’s been reported that she refused to use a body double while filming the domestic violence scenes, which left bruises on her body that she later had to explain to her daughters.
One of the most chilling scenes in Big Little Lies is the beginning of the Season 1 finale, which opens to the sounds of Perry beating Celeste seeping through an air vent in the basement of the couple’s multimillion-dollar coastal California home, where their twin boys are watching television. The camera shifts to ground level, where Celeste is gasping, shaking and shielding her face as she lies in the fetal position on the bathroom floor.
“I remember lying on the floor in the last episode, being in my underwear and having just been really thrown around,” Kidman told the Hollywood Reporter. “I just lay on the floor. I couldn’t get up. I didn’t want to get up. I just felt completely humiliated and devastated. And angry inside.”
Norton said the show and the actors’ performances effectively demonstrate domestic violence’s limitless reach — in demographics, education level or tax bracket.
“It happened to a woman who was very wealthy, very educated, very smart, very well-known and an upstanding community member, which I think helps confront some of the stigmas of who domestic violence happens to,” Norton said.
Lawyer Connections to Genesis and How More Can Help
Corporate lawyers are prevalent among Genesis’ leadership. This year’s luncheon co-chairs are Monica and Brent Christopher, a power couple in the North Texas nonprofit world. Monica Christopher is a senior vice president and chief giving and community impact officer of Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT), which, among other things, powers North Texas Giving Day, the largest one-day community-giving event in the country. Brent Christopher once was CEO of CFT, and is now president of Children’s Medical Center Foundation. The University of Texas-trained lawyer launched his career as an associate at Cowles & Thompson, and later served as the general counsel and assistant to the president of Dallas Baptist University.
Lawyers on Genesis’ board include treasurer Julia Forrester, a professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, and Erin Marino, a real estate transactional partner in Stinson’s Dallas office.
In addition to Genesis’ emergency shelter and transitional housing facility, the nonprofit will continue supporting women and children impacted by domestic violence at its new nonresidential office, located in the Medical District. Twice the size of its original headquarters on Lemmon Ave., the new facility features expanded counseling services and an entire floor dedicated Genesis’ legal center, which includes a new law library.
Even if lawyers are not versed in family law, Norton said there are a number of ways lawyers can help the organization, including financial support, utilizing their network to find potential pro bono attorneys, or getting involved with one of the auxiliary groups (there are groups for both men and women).
Lawyers are particularly valuable for an organization like Genesis, Norton said, because many are “trauma-informed,” meaning they know how to engage with people impacted by trauma both in and out of the courtroom.
She also encouraged law firms and corporate legal departments to invite Genesis to speak at their offices to educate their employees on domestic violence.
“Every company is an equal opportunity recipient of experiencing domestic violence in their workforce,” Norton said. “Even the most professional, educated woman who may be working at a law firm could be a victim of domestic violence.”