[Imc-events] A special message from Hakim Bellamy, Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, New Mexico

[Alex Cline]

Please support the Grassroots Radio Conference and performance art at the
same time this Saturday night at SPEAK
Cafe<http://grassrootsradioconference.org/news/saturday-event-speak-cafe-featuring-acclaimed-poet-activist-hakim-bellamy>
.

Please see the attached flyer & Press
Release<http://grassrootsradioconference.org/sites/2012.grassrootsradioconference.org/files/Hakim%20Bellamy%20-%20GRC%20press%20release.pdf>below
for more details.

Connect with me at Twitter (@HakimBe) and on Facebook www.fb.com/hakimbe

Thank you!

-hb

*Acclaimed poet-activist Hakim Bellamy & the poets of Speak Café perform at
Grassroots Radio Conference 2012*

*Contact: Austin McCann 2012grc at gmail.com 217-344-8820*

*Urbana, IL*— Acclaimed poet-activist Hakim Bellamy & the poets of Speak
Café perform at Grassroots Radio Conference 2012 in Urbana on Saturday,
July 28 at 8:00pm.
Tickets are $15 ($7.50 low-income) at Brown Paper Tickets online or
800-838-3006. Visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/257782. This
event is open to the public and free to Grassroots Radio Conference
participants.

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.

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.

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!

The conference will feature a keynote address by New York Times
best-selling author Joseph Torres, who will be talking about race and
American media history. Tickets are $25 ($10 low-income) and are available
at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/256811.

This year's conference partners include Free Press, Prometheus Radio
Project, Media Action Grassroots Network, the New America Foundation's Open
Technology Initiative, Brown paper Tickets, Radio Free Urbana (104.5 LP-FM)
WEFT 90.1 FM, Illinois Public Media, Urbana Public Television, Volo
Broadband, Makerspace Urbana, and Chambana.net.

Grassroots Radio Conference 2012 will take place in Urbana, IL, with
workshops & events from July 26-29. To register for the conference, go to
www.grassrootsradioconference.org.

#####

*The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization
committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting
social and economic justice in the Champaign County area. We foster the
creation and distribution of media, art, and narratives emphasizing
underrepresented voices and perspectives and promote empowerment and
expression through media and arts education.*

-- 
*Inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, New Mexico (2012-2014)
www.hakimbe.com
*

Thanks,

Alex Cline
Venue Coordinator
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
202 S. Broadway #100
Urbana IL, 61801
http://www.ucimc.org
o: 217.344.8820
m: 217.550.1472
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