harry belafonte, talib kweli, cornel west coming to
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Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli and Cornel West are among the illustrious musicians, actors, poets, activists and academics who will take the stage at Growing Up Locked Down (GULD), a three-day, multi-media juvenile justice conference to be held at The Tishman Auditorium at The New School for Drama September 24-26. (See below for a full schedule of events; for tickets go here.) Presented by The New School for Drama in collaboration with The Gathering for Justice, a social justice organization founded by Belafonte in 2005, GULD will tackle the issue of child incarceration through a sweeping series of concerts, theater productions, plenaries and youth-led programs. Belafonte—musician, New School alum and committed social activist—will kick off the conference with a keynote address. The event continues with headlining speeches from West, juvenile justice advocates Bryan Stevenson and Bart Lubow, and performances from Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, Quadir Lateef, Jasiri X, Aja Monet, Grace Weber, Mysonne, Aurora Barnes, Mike de la Rocha and more. Juvenile justice advocates and activists, including actress and The Gathering for Justice President Carmen Perez, The Wire and Boardwalk Empire star Michael K. Williams and members of the Central Park 5 and Jena 6, will lead workshops and panels addressing subjects ranging from the state of childhood incarceration to the media’s role in reporting the issue. In addition, GULD will feature performances by The New School for Drama in collaboration with The Naked Angels theater company, Impact Repertory Theatre and conscious muralists Beats, Rhymes and Relief. The goal of GULD will be the establishment of two “solutions reports”—one prepared based on community discussions, the other developed based on GULD’s content—which will be delivered to the de Blasio and Cuomo administrations. Justice League NYC, an initiative of The Gathering for Justice, will take the conference and those solutions to a new city each year. “The New School for Drama is honored to be partnered with The Gathering for Justice and Harry Belafonte to bring critical attention and action to the devastating impact of juvenile incarceration,” Pippin Parker, Director of The New School for Drama, said. “With its historical commitment to social justice and guided by the example of such distinguished alumni as Mr. Belafonte, The New School continues a proud tradition of pursuing the betterment of society through direct and relevant engagement.” Wednesday, September 24, 2014 Opening Plenary: 3:00-4:30 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Panel Discussion: 4:45–6:45 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue GULD Opening Night Social: 7:30–9:30 pm Thursday, September 25, 2014 Opening Ceremony & Keynote Address: 8:30–9:30 am, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Panel Discussion: 10:00-11:00 am, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Workshops: 10-11 am Lunch provided by GULD: 11:15 am-12:30 pm Lunchtime Plenary: 12:45–2:00 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Workshops: 12:45-1:45 pm Afternoon Keynote Address: 2:00-2:30 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Mid-Afternoon Plenary: 2:30-4:00 pm Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Panel Discussion: 4:30-6:00 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Friday, September 26, 2014 Breakfast provided by GULD: 8:45 am Plenary: 9:45-11:30 am, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Performance & Keynote Introduction: Peace Poets (TBD) Panel Discussion: “Where We Go From Here: A Radical Shift in the 21st Century” Breakout Sessions led by Justice League: 11:45-1:45 pm Closing Plenary: 2:00-3:30 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Young Theater Workshop Performance: 3:45-5:00 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Panel Discussion & Concert: 7:30-11:00 pm, Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Avenue Performances by Immortal Technique, Grace Weber, Gina Rene, Quadir Lateef, Jasiri X and more to be announced About The New School for Drama The New School for Drama has a legacy of vision. Artistic voices as distinctive as Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando found their singularity here, under the wing of founder Erwin Piscator and a faculty including Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. Since 1994, the university has offered the MFA degree in dramatic arts. With theater in the air and on its streets as surely as on its hundreds of stages, New York City provides an unrivaled curriculum in observation and a wealth of professional opportunities. Through its interrelated program of acting, directing, and playwriting, The New School for Drama is creative in its simplicity and original in its vision. The New School is forging the next generation of artists capable of meeting our expectations of storytelling, of seeing ourselves as we truly are, and of touching what is human about art. Learn more at www.newschool.edu/drama/. About The Gathering for Justice The Gathering for Social Justice is a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte in 2005. Led by Executive Director Carmen Perez, the mission of The Gathering is to end child incarceration and correct and replace the societal and institutional pillars that enliven mass incarceration with viable community solutions. The Gathering has earned great success and a reputation to match as intergenerational experts in gang intervention, violence prevention, cultural reconciliation, restorative justice, nonviolence training, leadership training and grassroots mobilization. The group organized historic gatherings of disenfranchised and impacted communities across the United States, encouraging nonviolence and civic and political participation. In 2010 The Gathering moved its national office and Executive Director to New York City to support the creation of a young worker’s program for 1199SEIU. That program, Purple Gold, is represented in 5 regions in the East Coast, serving 75,000 members under 35. In 2011 The Gathering took its national experiences and transferred them to the international stage where Ms. Perez participated in a trans-national delegation that supported the 2011 peace truce between the world’s largest and most violent gangs, MS 13 and 18th Street, in the ravaged prisons of El Salvador–lowering the country’s violent crime and murder rate by 70 percent and bringing El Salvador from the world’s highest crime rate per capita, to number 44. Learn more at www.generationalalliance.org. |
| Founded in 1919, The New School was born out of principles of academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. Committed to social engagement, The New School today remains in the vanguard of innovation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students challenging the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The New School welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and calendar of lectures, screenings, readings, and concerts. Through its online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence. Learn more at www.newschool.edu. |
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