Music Festival Workshops
Participate in our workshops! We have a range of workshops that cover a variety of topics including improv, empowerment, social awareness, etc. The workshops will occur on January 17 and 18.
Yes, And: How to Use Improv for Justice
Time: Saturday 1:00 to 3:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Dennis Hendricks
In this workshop, we will look look at an intro to Improv Comedy. How can we apply principles like yes, and, active listening, follow the fun to learn how engage build community and co-create a new world. We will be silly together and do some skill development with improv games and even some small scenes!
Witness Collaborative
Time: Saturday 10:15 AM to 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Alexandru Salceanu
Witness Collaborative is a long-term project collaborative project that engages refugee and immigrant communities in the creation of process-oriented autobiographical video portraits. Throughout the creative process, participants tell their own stories, take part in editing their narratives, and have agency over their representation.
ESL (Spanish) - Workers' rights
Time: Saturday 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Julia Toscano
This workshop would be an ESL class which would teach English by teaching California Workers’ Rights.
Better Your World
Time: Saturday 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Pete Kronowitt
How to Combine Music and Activism to Better Your World
Learn how to use live performances to raise awareness and effectively engage, recruit, and activate volunteers to take meaningful action. We will discuss tactics to organize and promote standalone shows and tours, approaches to select potential partners (causes, candidates, etc.), media and promotion strategies and tactics for attracting new audiences for social justice performances.
Successful social movements organize a critical mass of people to pivotal influence points at the right moment and over a sustained period of time. At the same time, building effective coalitions by focusing on aligning the strengths of organizations are the key to unlock potential for mass mobilization.
Liberation Line Dancing: Getting the Movement to Move
Time: Saturday 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Aya De Leon
In this workshop, participants will write, choreograph and record a line dance about a political issue they care about. No experience necessary. Just bring a smartphone and a desire to get the masses moving collectively.
OPTIONAL PREPARATION: find a song you LOVE to dance to that has an instrumental version on YouTube or your favorite music streaming app. Not sure what this is all about? Check out the “No Kings” line dance on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/DP-v5_3juFY/ or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blXECLM9YaA
Teaching Bilingual Poetry: A Brainstorming Session for Educators, Librarians, and other Activist-Organizers
Time: Saturday 10:15 AM to 12:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Norma Smith
The workshop focuses on poetry/literature, but it could be applied to any arts. Together, we will develop curriculum for teaching poetry in a bilingual or multilingual classroom (grades 4 through 12), where the educator is not necessarily fluent in a second or third language. We will build bibliographies and strategies for acknowledging our students’ skills and encouraging building on their potential as translators (of language, history, culture) and educators themselves. editing their narratives, and have agency over their representation.
Workers Voices in the Fight for Justice!
Time: Saturday 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Bill Shields and members of the Workers Voices Storytellers Collective
This is a fun, creative and liberation-oriented storytelling workshop. We will read short excerpts from our collective members’ stories to get our creative juices flowing. We will then do writing exercises on the theme of workers in the fight for justice. We will conclude by reading this work to each other. Come, join us and connect with a great network of worker-storytellers! The workshop will be taught in English, with Spanish translation as needed.
¡La comunidad dice no a Trump, si a justicia!
Time: Sunday 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Bill Shields and Andreina Maldonado.
The workshop will be conducted in Spanish, with simultaneous English translation. Participants will read excerpts from the El Nuevo Sol teatro groups’ new piece on fighting for justice during Trump 2.0. They will then be invited to do fun, easy voice and physical exercises to stimulate creativity. Finally, they will work in small groups to create a skit on the subject of justice for the immigrant community. Join us for an enjoyable, liberating storytelling session – no prior experience necessary! ¿Se puede? ¡Si, se puede!
Past and Present and Our Writing for Social and Economic Justice
Time: Saturday 10:15 AM to 12:00 PM
Facilitator(s): Alice Elizabeth Rogoff
The facilitator will discuss previous literary writers who wrote for social and economic justice. Then she will suggest prompts for the participants’ own writing which could be a monologue, poem, or scene. We will do some writing, and then sharing of the pieces.
Using Music and Culture as Tools for Building the Movement
Time: Saturday 10:15 AM to 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Facilitator(s): David Rovics and Kamala Emanuel, aka the Ministry of Culture
In the US and many other countries today, social movements have largely forgotten about the power of music and culture. But in the past in the US, music and culture have played a pivotal role in many social movements, just as it still does around the world today. In this workshop we will explore past movements and how they have made use of music and culture, how we can re-introduce these concepts into social movements today, and why this is such a crucially important project to embark on.