100,000 Poets for Change set for Sept. 28

Lost Horse Press and Bonner County Human Rights Task Force are teaming up for the seventh year to present a poetry and music open mic for local writers/musicians/artists/students to express their ideas for positive change in our community, in ourselves, in the country, and in the world.

Poets, artists, and musicians around the world are planning individual events to take place simultaneously on Sept. 28 in conjunction with 100 Thousand Poets for Change in a demonstration/celebration of poetry, art, and music to promote social, environmental and political change.

The community is invited to join Sandpoint poets and musicians as they connect with artists all over the globe to express their aspirations for a better world. The local event will be held from 1-4 p.m. at Evans Brothers Café. Area residents are invited to join Lost Horse Press and the task force as readers, performers, or listeners.

Register for the open mic on the day of the event at Evans Brothers Café. Lost Horse Press and Bonner County Human Rights Task Force officials said they look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts for supportive and constructive change.

100 Thousand Poets for Change, founded in Sonoma County, Calif., in 2011, is an annual event in which poets, musicians, and artists around the world come together to call for environmental, social, political, and personal change. On Sept. 28, concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs, art exhibits, parades, and demonstrations will take place in more than 300 countries around the world. 100 Thousand Poets for Change’s founders, Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion, have stated that peace and sustainability “… are major concerns worldwide and the guiding principles for this global event.”

All participants are hoping, through their actions and events, to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and sustainability. A common ground is built through this global compilation of local stories, which is how we create a true narrative for discourse to inform the future, organizers said.

What kind of change are we talking about? BCHRTF president Brenda Hammond said the first order of change is for poets, writers, musicians, artists, anybody, to actually get together to create and perform, educate and demonstrate, simultaneously, with other communities around the world.

“This will change how we see our local community and the global community,” she said in a press release. “We have all become incredibly alienated in recent years. We hardly know our neighbors down the street let alone our creative allies who live and share our concerns in other countries. We need to feel this kind of local and global solidarity.”

Information: Lost Horse Press, losthorsepress@mindspring.com or 208-255.4410