September 6: The ISIS Project @ Lawrence Hall of Science

September 27-Oct 1: Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle Sattelite Events @ Various Locations

October 2: Litquake’s Tribute to Larewnce Ferlinghetti, hosted by Marc Bamuthi Joseph at Palace of Fine Arts

October 3: Life is Living: Oakland @ DeFremery Park

October 9: Brave New Teachers presentation at Teachers for Social Justice conference

October 14: The Spoken World @ LeHigh University

November 6-7: Life is Living: Houston @ Emancipation Park and Last Organic Outpost

December 2-4: Left Coast Leaning @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

December 6-12: Word Becomes Flesh Re-Premiere @ National Performance Network, Dallas, TX

Through eight festivals, more than 30,000 people have enjoyed several hundred artists of various disciplines from around the country.

…this is where you want to be…hip hop does not dominate the body of content, and yet, hip hop is in the body of the players on stage.

A festival born out of forced labor and pandemic unemployment. Jim crow and reaganomics. a left coast, left-leaning (out of your hybrid impala) kinda interdisci- plinary artist-curated festival.

–> UNIVERSES: LIVE FROM THE EDGE

Universes’ presents live from the edge, an evening that showcases the ensemble’s special brand of fusion theater in a “best of” evening that tracks the evolution of their poetic language from childhood rhymes and community rituals, to poetry and theater, hip-hop and gospel.

fierce, funny, and bitingly intelligent…prodigiously versatile, handling the demands of the piece with professionalism and aplomb —The L.A. Times

Oct 8–9, 8pm //
Counterpulse, 1310 Mission St, San Francisco //
$20 /$10 students, elders, teachers

–> LIFE IS LIVING (www.lifeisliving.org)

Oct 10, 11a-5p //
DeFremery Park, 1651 Adeline St, Oakland //
Free

–> BRAVE NEW VOICES TEACHERS’ CONFERENCE

Photos in Image taken by Bethanie Hines

Youth Speaks executive team members James Kass, Hodari Davis, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph offer specific curriculum expertise on how to maximize the classroom use of the HBO 7 part documentary series “Brave New Voices.”

Attendees of this four-hour professional development opportunity will receive the HBO produced DVD, an electronic educational guide, and will be provided with lunch.

Oct 17, 10a-2p //
Lick Wilmerding High School, 755 Ocean Ave, SF //
$50. limited capacity.

Click here to register.

–>LIVING WATER: YOUTH SPEAK TO SPIRIT

A curated sampling of Youth Speaks poets perform works about their faith, conflicts and complexities included. Young writers of all religious backgrounds engage with both ministry and apathy, forging a safe space for young artists to examine their relationship to the divine through poetry. Co-hosted by Denizen Kane and Brandon santiago and featuring remarks by members of the Glide Memorial Ministry Council.

Oct 18, 2p //
Glide MeMorial Church Sanctuary, 330 Ellis St @ Taylor, SF //
Free

“RACE IS FICTION”

The Living Word Festival kicks off on October 17, with workshops and performances cohosted by SF Green Festival, Global Exchange, and Grind 4 Green at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) in downtown San Francisco.

The workshops are followed by a lunchtime outdoor concert with Goapele and the Kev Choice Ensemble at Yerba Buena Gardens at 12:30pm. That evening at 7pm, local literary icons, Adam Mansbach and Jeff Chang participate in a literary panel and conversation around the theme “Race is Fiction” at the Oakland Museum.

• Produced by the Resident Theater company of Youth Speaks and Curated by Artistic Director Marc Bamuthi Joseph
• Featuring New Performance Works, Live Music, and a Host of Outreach
• Activities Including Workshops, Panels, and a Live Graffiti Battle
• Partners for this year’s Living Word Festival include Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, MOAD, Ella Baker Center, Global Exchange and the SF Green Festival.

The Festival’s outreach activities continue on October 18, when the Living Word Festival presents red black and GREEN, an Environmental Caucus and Concert at deFremey Park in Oakland. The thematic focus of the day will be eco-equity, committed to the position that poor communities and communities of color be logistically and psychologically included into the new, clean and green economy.

The day will feature the 2nd Annual Estria Invitational Living Word Graffiti Battle, a partnership with Samurai Graffix and Tumis. Twenty contest participants will be given a 6×8 foot canvas, biodegradable materials, and non-aerosol, non-toxic paint and will be charged with creating environmentally themed, graffiti style tags around the park. The work will be sold at a silent auction to benefit Youth Speaks. An outdoor performance in the park featuring Los Rakas and a special guest will be held concurrently.

Calendar…

Calendar for weekend 1

Calendar for weekend 2

Featured Artists and Participants included

Mos Def, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Goapele, Chinaka Hodge, Rafael Casal, Regie Cabico, Daveed Diggs, Janicnta Vlach, Delina Brooks, Nico Cary, Jason Samuels-Smith, The Kev Choice Ensemble, SF Jazz Youth All-Stars and  Guillermo Gómez Pena and La Pocha Nostra

2008  press release…

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