7th Annual HOPE Benefit Concert

April 04, 2013

Zion I's Zumbi (left) and K.Flay (right) perform at the 3rd annual HOPE Benefit Concert.

The 7th annual HOPE Benefit Concert will take place on Saturday, April 13, from 3:00-6:00 pm in the College Nine Quad (between Hague House and Geneva House).  Produced by the CoCurricular Programs Office, this yearly concert combines live entertainment with opportunities for activism focused on a topic related to College Nine’s theme of International and Global Perspectives.  This year's concert, Highlighting the Afro-Brazilian Arts Movement and Youth Empowerment, will feature live music by SambaDa, Afro-Brazilian dancing, capoeira demonstrations, a drum circle, tabling and crafts.  Proceeds will go to Rhythmic Uprising, a project dedicated to Afro-Brazilian arts movement and youth activism.

This annual event began in 2007, when two College Nine students approached CoCurricular Programs Coordinator Erin Ramsden with the idea.  “They wanted to start a College Nine tradition that focused on the theme and raised awareness in a celebratory way with live music and opportunities to get involved,” said Ramsden.  Because both students were passionate about the conflict in Darfur, they chose that as the first topic and donated the money raised to an elementary school there.

Topics since then have been Sri Lanka, Stop Violence Against Women, Stop Youth Violence, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Featured performers have included Gina Rene, Los Rakas, Zion-I, John Trudell, and Brwn Bflo.  “This event has become well-known.  It is such a high quality event,” said Ramsden.  “It draws people from all over campus.”

Before the HOPE concert on April 13, the Colleges Nine and Ten Cocurricular Programs Office will also host a film screening of a Rythmic Uprising documentary highlighting the Afro-Brazilian arts movement and youth empowerment in Bahia. The screening will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 11, in the Namaste Lounge. Following the film screening will be a Q&A session with the filmmakers, as well as an Afro-Brazilian dance workshop led by Dandha Da Hora from local samba band SambaDa.

To view the flyer for these two events, please click here.