Change Is In Our Hands! Workshops and Show

Come check out the Change is in Our Hands! workshops and show on Saturday:

On Saturday, May 2nd, a wonderful event will be happening at Wesleyan University. Taina Asili, Evan Greer, and Victorio Reyes will facilitate workshops in the afternoon, starting at 1pm (details below). At 7 we will have a potluck dinner and at 9 there will be a show at the WestCo Cafe with Evan Greer, Broadcast Live, Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde and a campus band TBA.

The workshops will take place in the Woodhead Lounge in the Exley Science Center. The dinner will be outside if the weather is nice, and the show will be at the WestCo Cafe.

Please come out to learn skills, meet friends, and expand our movement. For more information, or if you are interested in tabling, please contact Jonathon Booth at jjbooth@wes.

Facebook event

Workshops
Date: Saturday, May 2
Time: 1-7 pm
Place: Woodhead Lounge (in Exley)

Live Music
Date: Saturday, May 2
Time: 9 pm
Place: WestCo Cafe

Descriptions of the bands and workshops after the jump:

Workshops:
Workshop: “From Activism to Organizing”
Facilitated by Evan Greer

This interactive workshop focuses on concrete skills for organizing that moves us beyond actions and campaigns toward building relationships, trust, and community. Topics covered include anti-racism, media skills, event organizing and outreach, direct action, and the role of music in social movements. Part discussion, part strategy session, the workshop will be tailored to support the needs of young activists working for change at Wesleyan.
Facilitator Evan Greer is a community organizer and musician from Boston. His work focuses on climate justice, gender liberation, anti-racism, and coalition-building between a diverse array of grassroots groups in the Northeast. He tours internationally as a political singer/songwriter and facilitates workshops and strategy sessions at universities and community centers around the U.S. He recently returned from a 5-week bicycle tour of Florida, offering workshops in colleges, high schools, libraries, churches, youth detention centers, and activist spaces across the state.

Workshop: “Music and Movements: Alternatives to Slogans, Chants, and Speeches”
Facilitated by Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde

Throughout time music has been used to shape movements for social change around the world. This creative workshop will pull from a few moments and places in history where music has changed the way people work towards change, from South Africa to Puerto Rico to New York City. We will discuss how music can transform the conscious and subconscious, can shift how we perceive this world and literally create harmony. We will discuss alternatives to commonly used contemporary tactics for change like empty slogans, dry chants and long speeches. In this interactive workshop we will experiment with a live band, and group writing exercises, creating words to be carried by music and discuss how we might be transformed by this experience.

Workshop: “The History of Hip Hop and Social Justice”
Facilitated by Victorio Reyes of Broadcast Live

This workshop explores the history of Hip Hop and its connection with social justice. This dynamic presentation takes you on a journey covering the 36 years of Hip Hop’s existence, discussing it’s underground roots, it’s cooptation by the record industry, it’s connections with spoken word poetry, and the future of this world wide phenomenon. The material is presented in a manner that is engaging and informative, with workshop participants adding their own experiences as members of the Hip Hop Generation. The Facilitator, Victorio Reyes, is a member of the band Broadcast Live as well as director of the Albany Social Justice Center. During his ten plus years as a community organizer and poet, Victorio has offered dozens of workshops at Universities, after-school programs, and community centers across the country. His presentations are both energetic and thought provoking, reflecting his years of experience as a committed activist and performer.

Bands:
Evan Greer
Equally at home leading singalongs in a union hall or sweating in a basement punk show, Evan’s lyrically driven and energetic songs speak to rebellious people of all generations. He is a member of the Riot-Folk! Collective, a group of 9 young musicians who work together to use their music as a tool for social change. He has toured internationally, sharing stages with artists like Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Billy Bragg, Chumbawamba, Pete Seeger, The Coup, Immortal Technique, Pamela Means, State Radio, Anne Feeney, Emma’s Revolution, and Mr. Lif.

Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde
Taina Asili sings the spirit of social change using soulful vocals laid over a unique infusion of hip rock, neo-soul, hip hop, flamenco and Afro-Caribbean sounds. The band’s eclectic style represents the diversity of its band members, who have origins in Puerto Rico, Sicily, Greece, Brazil and Tanzania.Taina has shared the stage with artist such as Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique.

Broadcast Live, a Live Hip Hop Band born out of the activist community in Albany, New York, just released their sophomore album, Boomerang Metropolis, on January 27th, 2009. Their blend of indie rock and Hip Hop is both accessible and danceable, while remaining heavily influenced by their collective commitment to social justice. Broadcast Live, formed five years ago with the purpose of creating a musical project that reflected their collective commitment to activism. Their first album, Underground reached #38 on the CMJ Hip Hop Charts and their newest album, Boomerang, just reached #25 on the same chart. Broadcast Live has played venues big and small across the United States and have had the opportunity to open for many well known artists including: Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Spearhead, and Hamell on Trial.