Global Event
Embraces Local Issues Through Poetry, Music, Art and More
Nearly 700 Events
Planned in More Than 115 Countries for
100 Thousand Poets
for Change
Santa
Rosa, Calif. (August 14, 2012) – September 29, 2012 marks the second annual global
event of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a grassroots organization that brings
poets, artists and musicians (new this year) together to call for environmental,
social, and political change, within the framework of peace and sustainability.
The local focus is key to this global event as communities around the world
raise their voices through concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs and
demonstrations that speak to the heart of their specific area of concerns, such
as homelessness, ecocide, racism and censorship.
“Peace
and sustainability is a major concern worldwide, and the guiding principle for
this global event,” said Michael Rothenberg, Co-Founder of 100 Thousand Poets
for Change. “We are in a world where it isn't just one issue that
needs to be
addressed. A common ground is built through this global compilation
of local stories, which is how we create a true narrative for discourse
to inform the future.”
Organizers and participants are hoping through their
actions and events to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of
the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and
sustainability. Those that want to get involved can visit www.100tpc.org to find an event near them or
sign up to organize one in their area.
There are nearly 700 events planned worldwide,
including:
• 25 different events in the San Francisco Bay Area,
the birthplace of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, with live poetry readings by
Beat Legend Michael McClure, former US Poet Laureate Robert Hass and other major
poets
• The Occupy Wall Street Poetry group kicks off a
weekend of events in New York City with a poetry reading at the famous St.
Mark’s Poetry Project
• Peace On Streets, R.O.A.D., Tasker Elite and SHARP
will host performance artists, poets, musicians, hip hop artists and various
youth and parent groups who will perform and lead workshops throughout
Philadelphia to bring awareness to the ongoing problem of street violence in
their city
• Wordstock, a 3 day festival at the Bamboo Arts and
Celebration Center in De Leon Springs, FL, will include poetry slams, concerts,
and an art exhibition focusing on images of war and peace
• In New Orleans, a blues festival featuring ten
bands will help raise funds for medical care for aging musicians
• In Jamaica a week long Street Dub Vibe series
called “Tell the Children the Truth” will include concerts, spoken word
performances, art exhibits, lectures, and workshops to bring attention to the
damaging culture of secrecy and denial surrounding the abuse, poverty and
illiteracy impacting the nation’s children and destroying their future.
• Poetry and
peace gatherings are planned in the strife-torn cities of Kabul and Jalalabad,
Afghanistan
• In Cairo
and Alexandria, Egypt, poets, musicians and mime artists, in response to the revolution in Egypt and the major
changes taking place in the Arab World, will perform in public spaces and
theaters and explore new ways to communicate their concerns, and their roles as
artists, in influencing the future of their country
• In Volos, Greece, there will be 5 days of poetry
and music events, including an exhibition of photography looking at the new
phenomenon of homelessness in Greece
• An event in Blackpool, England will celebrate
activist poets and writers of past generations through a special performance of
Bullets and Daffodils, a play about
the life of peace poet Wilfred Owen
100 Thousand Poets for Change began in Sonoma County,
Calif. The official Headquarters’
Event will take place at the Arlene Francis Center in
downtown Santa Rosa and will feature poetry
readings, group meditations, workshops, and music and dance of various styles
including hip hop, flamenco, African drums, reggae, salsa, folk and more. The
HQ event will also live-stream other 100 Thousand Poets for Change events
worldwide. This 3-day event is sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center of
Sonoma County and the Sonoma County Arts Council.
Immediately following September 29th, all
documentation on the 100TPC.org website, which will include specific event
pages with photos, video and other documentation compiled by each city
coordinator, will be preserved by Stanford University in California. Stanford
recognized 100 Thousand Poets for Change in 2011 as an historical event, the
largest poetry reading in history. They will continue to archive the complete
contents of 100TPC.org, as part of their digital archiving program LOCKSS.
About 100 Thousand Poets for Change
Co-Founder Michael Rothenberg
(walterblue@bigbridge.org) is a widely known poet,
editor of the online literary magazine Bigbridge.org
and an environmental activist based
in Northern California. Terri Carrion is a poet,
translator, photographer, and editor and visual designer for BigBridge.org.
100 Thousand Poets for Change
P.O. Box 870
Guerneville, Ca 95446
Phone: 305-753-4569
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