Call Out for Volunteers in Chicago

Youth Speaks is installing the Battle canvases from the Chicago Battle around Chicago. Help needed.

We're looking for volunteers with cars/trucks on Monday and Tuesday October 25-26th between the hours of 10-6pm to assist in distribution, and installation. Most likely installation consists of having access to Ladders, screw guns, hammers (2 people crews). They can contact josato@youthspeaks.org, or through facebook; joan.osato@gmail.com, or via cell and text at 415-710-7427. Installation should be light duty (only a few places need this); more importantly we need to hit 15-20 locations for distribution over 2 days.

About the Project:
The LIFE is LIVING model fuses arts and discourse to promote the value of LIFE within communities of color. Produced in conjunction with Brave New Voices, the International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, LIFE is LIVING was a public outdoor installation designed to foster healthy, happy and powerful lives through art, peace and environmental justice.

This event and convening is part of a larger series of events. In addition to Oakland, Harlem, Honolulu, and Chicago, LIFE is LIVING will be presented in Houston and then again for a second time in Oakland. A national LIFE is LIVING convening will take place in San Francisco in 2010, during the Living Word Festival, Curated by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Produced by Youth Speaks/The Living Word Project and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.After incredible success in Oakland, California and Harlem, New York, and Honolulu, Hawai'i, LIFE is LIVING came to Chicago's Clarendon Park on July 18th, 2009. The Living Word Project in collaboration with Kuumba Lynx presented LIFE is LIVING in conjunction with over 40 local organizations. The event was attended by local community members as well as the 500 youth poets participating in Brave New Voices. Mr. Joseph hosted performances from Pharoahe Monch, Saul Williams, Rebel Diaz, and Beau Sia rounded out by basketball and soccer tournaments, gardening, elder health screenings and dance battles, and the day feature the LIFE is LIVING signature event; Estria's 3rd Annual Invitational Graffiti Battle (EIGB)

For EIGB, we partnered with Samurai Graffix to curate 16 visual artists into a public outdoor installation. Each artist was given a 8X10 foot canvas, to create environmentally themed, positive messaging graffiti artworks around the park. Each artistl painted the word “Earth”, and now we are about to hang their murals in different locations around the the city of Chicago, hoping to catalyze deeper thought and community action around the value of life in communities experiencing record homicide rates.

As part of our project, we are grateful for your participation, and inclusion as an installation site in mounting this city-wide exhibit for permanent display. We'd hoped to place the Graf Panels in public space or community centers as artifacts commemorating the spirit and vision of LIFE is LIVING, signifying the potential and promise of diverse partnerships working across fields to affect lasting change in our communities. Each panel will be installed to suit the needs of the specific space, and will be accompanied by a 17 x 24 inch display panel describing the project; contextualizing the art work and the project LIFE is LIVING.

Starting on Sunday October 24th, a volunteer crew made up of Youth Speaks staff and local volunteers will begin distributing and installing these art pieces around the city. Done in collaboration with the Columbia College of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Kuumb Lynx, and EIGB, we will schedule in a drop-off time at your site on either Monday October 25th, or Tuesday October 26th between the hours of 10am - 6pm.