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Event
Speak Cafe: Featuring acclaimed poet HAKIM BELLAMY
Acclaimed poet-activist Hakim Bellamy & the poets of Speak Café are performing as part of Grassroots Radio Conference 2012: The Future of Community Radio (July 26-29 at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center) on Saturday, July 28 at 8:00pm.
Tickets $15 ($7.50 low-income) in advance only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006; $15 at the door. This event is open to the public!
Hakim Bellamy
Hakim Bellamy is inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, NM, and is a national and regional Poetry Slam Champion and holds three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at the University of New Mexico. His poetry has been published in Albuquerque inner-city buses and various anthologies. Bellamy was recognized as an honorable mention for the University of New Mexico Paul Bartlett Re Peace Prize for his work as a community organizer and journalist and was recently bestowed the populist honor of "Best Poet" by Local iQ ("Smart List" 2010, 2011 & 2012) and Alibi ("Best of Burque" 2010, 2011 & 2012). He is the co-creator of the multimedia Hip Hop theater production Urban Verbs: Hip-Hop Conservatory & Theater that has been staged throughout the country. He facilitates youth writing workshops for schools and community organizations in New Mexico and beyond. Hakim is currently finishing his MA in Communications and Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico. He is the proud father of a 4 year-old miracle and works as the Strategic Communication Director at Media Literacy Project.
The poets of Speak Café
Speak (Song, Poetry, Expression, Art and Knowledge) Café was founded in Urbana-Champaign in 2005; it is both a space and a performance opportunity. Speak Café events are filled with activists who participated in actions and events including those such as the civil rights and Black Power movements, project 500 at University of Illinois, the annual Unity march, and the demonstrations for Troy Davis. It is these movements, and the ideas and experiences related to the concepts of Race, Roots and Resistance that inspired the creation of the Speak Café in the first place.
Local poet & activist Aaron Ammons serves as the MC for Speak Café.The first Speak Café was a project developed by students participating in Professor William Patterson's class, Cash Rules Everything Around Me (C.R.E.A.M.), in 2005. Patterson, who has lived in North Champaign with his family for most of his life, challenged his students to create a civic engagement project that engaged both the Illinois Campus and CU Community. There aren't many avenues where the oppressed can speak their truth to power and feel completely safe from ridicule, ostracizing, and threat. Speak Café fills that void in Champaign-Urbana, being a positive place where all people of all ages can go, listen, rap, perform poetry, read, and just belong to a community that informs and empowers.
Grassroots Radio Conference
The Grassroots Radio Conference is a national conference that offers people from volunteer-powered, community radio stations a chance to connect with each other, learn new skills, discuss issues, and party. This conference is for everyone interested in shaping the future of community radio and independent media.
Grassroots Radio Conference 2012 is focusing on the Future of Community Radio. Hundreds of new community radio stations are being built right now and 1000+ new stations will be going on air in the next few years. With digital technology, local community radio stations have the opportunity to engage global audiences, deploy mobile studios, share community wireless internet, and become multi-media community centers. Together we will chart a vision for community radio as a dynamic community-building tool for decades to come!
Tickets $15 ($7.50 low-income) in advance only at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006; $15 at the door.
Admission to this keynote is free for all GRC registrants!
Saturday, July 28, 8:00pm
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway Avenue, Urbana)
Photo by Wes Naman
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LocationUrbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (View)
202 S. Broadway Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
United States
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