Over 800 Events Planned in 115 Countries for100 Thousand Poets for Change
Santa Rosa, Calif. (September 24, 2012) – September 29,
2012 marks the second annual global event for 100 Thousand Poets for
Change, a grassroots organization that brings communities together to
call for environmental, social, and political change within the
framework of peace and sustainability. An event that began primarily
with poet organizers, 100 Thousand Poets for Change has grown into an
interdisciplinary coalition with year round events which includes
musicians, dancers, mimes, painters and photographers from around the
world.
Local issues are still key to this massive global event
as communities around the world raise their voices on issues such as
homelessness, global warming, education, racism and censorship, through
concerts, readings, lectures, workshops, flash mobs, theater
performances and other actions.
But these locally focused events have taken on a more
continuous and expansive form through the new disciplines represented
this year. For example, photographers are making a long-term project out
of the event; they will document the involvement of their communities
and explore connections with the broader global issues to turn into
future exhibits. More and more organizers and participants of the one
day, annual event are making plans to continue their actions after
September 29. Many have formed groups in their cities that will continue
to work year-round towards the goals their community seeks.
“Peace and sustainability are major concerns
worldwide, and the guiding principles 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.”
More than 200 hundred bands will be performing
around the world, from Los Angeles, New Orleans and Detroit to Serbia,
Nigeria and Italy. The musicians involved in this movement are once
again using their songs and performances to try to communicate their
concerns to the world. As Ross Altman, singer-songwriter, activist and
educator, reminds us: “from Plato, who banned [musicians] from the
Republic, to Putin, who had Russian punk band members of Pussy Riot
arrested, charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison
for a song prayer, musicians throughout history have been regarded as a
danger and threat to change the social order.”
In addition to the hundreds of musicians expressing
themselves through song, numerous Mimes for Change events in Egypt,
Turkey and Uruguay will take place in addition to the day long poetry
festivals in Los Angeles, Guatemala City, Pune, India, La Plata,
Argentina and Genoa, Italy; thousands of musicians, poets and artists
are participating around the world, totaling nearly 800 events globally,
including:
• 25 different events in the San Francisco Bay Area,
the birthplace of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, including poetry
readings by Beat Legend Michael McClure, former US Poet Laureate Robert
Hass and other major poets at the famed Watershed Environmental Poetry
Festival
• In New Orleans, 15 live bands will perform to
raise funds for the APEX Youth Center and Homegrown Harvest Music and
Arts Festival
• In Hollywood, Florida, Global
Vibes will host an event called, “War Destroys Children’s Lives” at two
venues and feature over 15 “Bands for Change”
• 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
• 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
• 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 violence in the world 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
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.
About 100 Thousand Poets for Change
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.
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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