UPDATE:
http://www.vimeo.com/5904642
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FREE TO PUBLIC
RSVP HERE
Riverside Theatre, The Living Word Project, MAPP International, Mighty4 and Samurai Graphix present:
Cultural Animators Series EARTH (H)OURS presents Life is Living
A public outdoor installation to catalyze deeper thought and community action around the value of life and our relationship to our planet.
| Date: |
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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| Time: |
12:00pm – 5:00pm
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| Location: |
Riverside Theatre
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| Street: |
91 Claremont Ave
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| City/Town: |
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Featuring:
The Estria Invitational Living Word Graffiti Battle
The Mighty 4 B Boy Battle hosted by Paulskeee
Performances by:
*Kurtis Blow’s Hip Hop Choir (www.myspace.com/kurtisblow3)
*Brave New Voices Green Team (www.bravenewvoices.org)
*Grace Kelly Jazz Quartet (www.gracekellymusic.com)
The Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle & Mighty 4 Break Battle hosted by Paulskeee
hosted by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Visual artists will create environmentally themed, graffiti style tags with the word “lifE” on a 8X10 foot canvas. E in life = Energy, Environment, Ecology, Economy. 16 of the New York area’s most talented artists will compete for the crown in a live, one-day painting competition. Winner will be flown to Oakland in October to compete in the Finals, plus receive $500 cash (total $3000 value).
The USA’s 1st Ever Nationwide Graffiti Battle!
Part I: Harlem, NY
Part II: Honolulu, HI May 29-30
Part III: Chicago, IL July 18
Part IV The Finals: Oakland, CA October 10
Judges:
1. Tatu Xmen
2. Wane One COD
3. Mare 129
4. Doc TC5
5. Estria
Contestants (confirmed to date):
1. Bounce, TYS, winner of last 2 yrs.
2. Keo FC
3. Dezo TC5
4. Vik TD4
5. Vogue TDK
6. Cern One YMI
7. Demer Wallnuts
Featuring:
• Mighty4 Break Battle hosted by Pauskeee (with cash prizes)
• JamesTOP Blackbook Battles, one for 18 & under, another for over 18
• Live performances by Kurtis Blow & Hip Hop Choir, Brave New Voices Green Team, Riverside Inspirational Choir, Grace Kelly Jazz Quartet
• Learn about Bamboo Bicycles Demonstration, Riverside Youth Greenhouse Project, Harlem Green Mappers, The Earth Institute, WE ACT
Generously supported by Doris Duke Charitable Fund, NY Culture, New Heritage Theatre Group, The Earth Institute, American Eagle Outfitters, and Montana Colors North America Inc.
Partners
About Riverside Church
The Church seeks to be a community of faith. Its members are united in the worship of God known in Jesus, the Christ, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Church is to serve God through word and witness; to treat all human beings as sisters and brothers; and to foster responsible stewardship of all God’s creation. www.theriversidechurchny.org
About Life Is Living
A national campaign that uses a new form of green spoken story telling — one that represents the diverse and changing perspectives on what it means to be environmentally just. This campaign seeks to inspire people to take the value they see in their LIFE, and establish it powerfully as a new voice to define what it means to be logistically and psychologically included in the new, clean and green economies. Life is worth living, and Living is Green. www.lifeisliving.org
About Paulskeee & Mighty 4
Mighty4 started in 1998 and is now the premiere presenter of break battles in 30+ cities worldwide. The annual 3-day San Francisco Mighty 4 brings in thousands of attendees to unify and preserve the four cornerstones of Hip Hop culture: Emceein’, Writin’ (aerosol art), DJin’, and Breakin’ (a.k.a. Breakdancing / Streetdance). Mighty 4 provides professional to amateur dance competitions, Emcee/Turntablist performances, dance workshops, town hall Hip Hop discussion panels, Graffiti writing exhibitions, 21+ night club preparties & afterparties, free BBQ park jams, and urban vendor market places.
Paulskeee, a B-boy and former President Rock Force Crew (1994-2008), went on to lead the veteran Bay Area crew to its first world title at the 1998 Battle Of The Year World Championship and was a finalist in 1999 (The last USA B-boy crew to win the world title since 1998). In 2000 Paulskeee and Cros 1 of Freestyle Session founded the USA’s first ever B-boy Crew Breakin Championship, Out For Fame, igniting the Breakin competition circuit nationwide. www.mighty4.com
About Estria & Samurai Graphix
Samurai Graphix is a custom screen print shop in San Leandro, CA run by Estria. Estria began spray painting in Hawai’i in 1984 and has since painted hundreds of murals. As an influential leader of San Francisco’s “Golden Age” of graffiti (1980´s), he pioneered painting techniques of characters and scenes. He is one of the originators of the stencil tip, used by graffiti writers to create thin airbrush-like lines. Estria co-founded Visual Element, the EastSide Arts Alliance´s free mural workshop that develops youth into the voice of the people. In 2007 Estria and Jason Mateo founded the Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle. www.estria.com
Resources:
Re-Use This Blog:
http://www.lifeisliving.org
Learn Green:
Riverside Youth Greenhouse Project
http://www.citylimits.org/content/calendar/event_view.cfm?calkey=10278&borough_id=1
Harlem Green Mappers
http://www.greenmap.org/greenhouse/resources/story_intro/harlem00
The Earth Institute
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sections/view/9
Bamboo Bikes Demonstration
http://bamboobikeproject.wordpress.com/page/2/
WE ACT
http://www.weact.org/
Read More
So for real…
I suck in the soil, but I been farming me a garden for a little while now, and I’m living off the fruit…
But before we get there…
I’m sitting in my car outside of starbucks with my engine running as I read the new york times…
It’s December of 2007, and the Bush administration has used the Environmental Protection Agency as a proxy to reject 17 states in their bid to impose more rigid emissions standards on the automobile agency. Not that I wasn’t noticing the overarching wackness of our president’s policy making, but something about this PARTICULAR decision felt particularly sinister to me. Despite the illusion of inclusion into a domestic body politic, corporations clearly have no national identity, no allegiance to people.
With this decision Bush was going beyond the xenophobia that psychologically bridged the U.S to war in Iraq. The EPA couldn’t claim even a false moral ground here, was transparently and intentionally corporate in a manner that showed neither allegiance to country nor planet.
Ooohhh… they actually for real, DON’T give a fuck…I thought…
And soon there will be nothing left to eat but money, and regret…
Me? I got sustainability issues (and not just the personal ones)… I fly everywhere, drive hella much, eat out often, sometimes travel across oceans to perform 5 minute poems. Mine is a garden of robust messaging and performance language…an organization, professorships, hella foundation awards, several touring shows, talking head heaven, the whole nine…
My green lettuce is feebly wilted by comparison…something’s got to change…time to USE THE PRESENT cultural assets and position to MAKE THE FUTURE.
So folks I’mo try something, and use this space to document the process of moving from thought to action the best I know how. In the break between convictions and contradictions, bush bashing and casual consumption I find art, and I think maybe, community…
The idea is to make a LIVING COMMUNITY in PERFORMANCE called red black and GREEN: a blues…
At the center of this community is the belief that the term “green” presupposes an appreciation and value for life. Further, the ugly reality is that for a number of reasons, this fundamental value of life is systemically stunted within the black community. The evidence is in the data. For instance, Blacks are more likely to die of heart disease, stroke, HIV/AIDS, flu, pneumonia, diabetes, cancer, asthma, AND homicide than Whites. All this according to the CDC’s latest statistics.
So before we go green, we go brown, with a specific strategy to reflect and affirm life for all, beginning with a series of events and installations called life is living. “Life is Living” is a one day festival cum national branding initiative, a direct link between black and brown communities, contemporary arts centers, and the planet. Watch this video to SEE what I mean, or peep this abstract to READ what I mean…
Either way, the deal is this…
I am choosing to alter my personal relationship to public space, and through politics, performance, cartography, and film, I am inviting communities all over the united states to do the same, beginning in Harlem and Brooklyn, uptown Chicago, the 9th ward in Houston, West Oakland, and the Excelsior district in san francisco…
Along the way, the documentation of the process will appear on this site in blog, photo essay, and hopefully a community of links looking toward action…my starting eight of hero/allies in this are the YOUTH SPEAKS massive, Eli Jacobs Fantauzzi, the mighty MVMT crew, the women of MAPP, Brett Cook Dizney, bethanie hines, jeff chang and you.
Somewhere along the road, I will build my next dance theater work with the dirt and residue of these dreams…
Art in action. For real…
Re-use this blog…
Re-cycle these ideas…
Life is worth living.
Living is green.
Read More
Check out Dr. Octagon’s visual rollercoaster in ‘Trees’. It presents the disturbing reality about our environment, our trees, and our communities in a type of a video hallucination.
Read More
“Words are just words without action. But I think what we’re seeing here today with these poets is the beginning of action.” – Robert Redford
Robert Redford has been fighting on behalf of the environment for more than 30 years. From producing documentary films about solar power to lobbying Congress, his work has been both in the field and inside the Beltway.
These days, he has a new venue for environmental activism: slam poetry. Sponsored by Redford’s Sundance Preserve, in collaboration with Youth Speaks, a nonprofit that presents spoken-word performances, the Academy Award-winning actor is getting his message out in rhyme.
Redford spoke with Lauren Whitehead, associate director of Youth Speaks, and Simone Crew, slam poet and participant in “Brave New Voices: Youth Speaks! 11th International Youth Poetry Slam,” on Talk of the Nation about his latest project and getting young people involved in the fight against global warming.
Listen to the interview live here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92584973
Read More
Big shout out to Grind For the Green, who organized an incredible Summery Eco-Musical Festival.
Grind For The Green
Here is some quick information about their work.
GRIND FOR THE GREEN (G4G) IS AN ANNUAL SUMMER ECO-MUSIC FESTIVAL PRODUCED BY AND FOR YOUTH IN THE SF BAY AREA. MORE THAN JUST A SHOWCASE FOR LOCAL TALENT, G4G PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK AND APPLIED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOUTH FROM THE HIP-HOP GENERATION BUILD BUSINESS ACUMEN AND TECHNICAL SKILLS NECESSARY FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT. HUNDREDS OF PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE PART IN ALL EVENTS, WHICH INCLUDE ARTIST DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS, JOBS, INTERNSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ROOTED IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORK.
See more online at http://www.myspace.com/grindforthegreen
Read More
