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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