1st Annual Activism Right There Festival

Thanks to over thirty different UC Berkeley student and Bay Area organizations and their amazing capacity to organize a week-long series of events within a month (and over the winter break… wow, right?), UC Berkeley is host to the first ever annual Activism Right There Festival. The festival kicks off at 7pm in Naia Gelateria Lounge (Lower Sproul, UC Berkeley campus) tonight with an Open Mic on Gender and Sexuality, hosted by CalSlam and The Vagina Monologues. And if you can’t make it tonight, fear not! You have the opportunity on Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday to check it out.

And Friday night in Zellerbach should be especially awesome, as it will feature a panel of well-known activists speaking on student activism at UC Berkeley, including: author of Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Jeff Chang and Bettina Aptheker of the Free Speech Movement.  Following the panel will be a concert with such performers as world reknown spoken word group iLL-Literacy (that’s right, they came to our theme unveiling) and Bay Area hip-hop legends Zion I.

And the best part of this festival? Free Fun!!!

If you’re in the area and have some extra time on your hands this week, we command you to go!

 

A Pilipino Tribe in the Bay Area

For the first time, The Ifugao Music & Dance Ensemble of Banaue is here in the Bay Area direct from the Philippines to share their traditional culture and art. Unlike the more theatrical performances of most Philippine dance troupes, the Ifugao Music & Dance Ensemble can be considered a more “authentic” one, as members of the actual tribe sanction it. A friend of mine who recently saw this group perform described it as dancing “the way they might dance in an actual ritual, and act out various events in the tribal setting.”

In a society where native traditions are often romanticized and laced with theatrics, this may be a wonderfully rare and genuine experience to behold.

The ensemble will be performing this Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 7:30PM at Sacramento State University for FREE.

If this is too far for you to travel, they will be performing at the City College of San Francisco, on Thursday, October 25, 2007, at 12:30PM.