Atlanta Cohort Planning Blog

An effort on the part of creative Emergent partners here in Atlanta for the sake of leaders in Africa. Neo-soul and singer-songwriters as well as visual artists together for a night that reaches across the Atlantic. Local artists with global hopes.

:: Calling ::
Musicians willing to submit a song to be included in a benefit CD, entitled "Amahoro, local artists creationg space for Africa's dreams" to be purchased online or pre-sold through Card.
Photographers and other visual artists who would like to offer prints or originals at discounted prices to be auctioned, proceeds going to Amahoro.
Marketers, curators, and event setup-takedown voulnteers.

:: Event ::
January 30, 7pm-10pm All Souls Fellowship, Decatur Musical Acts: (TBA)

:: Marketting needs::
Sponsorship, Rave Cards, Music Downloadable cards, T-Shirts, artwork, admission, limited artwork for sale by auction as well.

:: Hope for Peace ::
Amahoro means peace. It is a word of Bantu origin used widely across Africa. It has special meaning in places like Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo, where violence and genocide have inflicted such pain and suffering. When people from various tribes embrace, shake hands or kiss, and say "amahoro," they are expressing a deep hope for a better future. Amahoro Africa is a place where African voices, African leaders, African methods and solutions come together to address African issues together with non-African friends of Africa.

What if the musicians and artists of Atlanta were to mix across lines of race, culture, and style to create beauty that was heard eight thousand miles away? The proceeds would go to underwrite travel expenses for African nationals to participate in Amaroho’s next gathering in May 2007 taking place in Kampala, Ughanda.


:: Post-Colonial Africa ::
Africa has entered what historians and sociologists are calling the Post-Colonial Era. Africa is the second largest continent on earth – second only to Asia. Her land mass is 22.3% of the world’s total land area. Africa is home to over 874 million people, or 14% of the world population. Africa is the world’s richest continent in terms of natural resources but her people are the poorest economically. The future of Post-Colonial Africa is uncertain, but there are voices from throughout Africa calling for an era of innovation, of creativity, of justice, of peace, of hope. What concrete steps can be taken to bring hope to the suffering people of Africa? What will the church in Post-Colonial Africa look like? What yokes must be thrown off?

:: Emerging Phoenix ::
Atlantans living creatively in the way of Jesus are finding each other to meet monthly. We’re a sort of do-it-yourself conversation about our city, and families, and theology, and politics, from the perspective of our particular communities of faith, action, and contemplation. And we dream up stuff like this benefit. We look for innovative ways to love God’s world and to seek beauty. There are no membership roles or dues or secret handshakes, we are a local expression of a wider conversation among western missional creatives called the emergent village.

:: Benefit Contact ::
Ashley Cunningham
404.354.1843

Here's my first stab at a definition of postcolonialism. I welcome feedback and nuance.

Colonialism: a system of racialized and/or gendered constructs that maintain various forms of control over another national or ethnic entity.

Neo-colonialism: a tragic trend resulting from the impact of global capitalism whereby new forms of control and domination supplant displaced political hegemonies, preponderantly by means of economic leverage.

Postcolonialism: an intentional, self-critical, other-sensitive modus operandi of pressing those in power beyond the unconscious or deliberate tendencies toward economic, political, cultural and religious hegemony.

we discussed a number of things last night at the cohort and I'll post them seperately...

With the aim to raise a good chunk of money for amahoro africa project (and specifically for African nationals to travel to this conference organized by african naitonals) we want a title that holds the following:

1. cooperating artists raising funds to
2. equip african leaders/ African voices
3. to make change in thier world

here is the description of Amahoro from thier web site

Amahoro Africa is a place where African voices, African leaders, African methods and solutions come together to address African issues together with non African friends of Africa.
We are a community of emerging, young leaders committed to the rediscovery of God’s original design for His church in Africa . We believe that this means a complete integration of the key elements that define the local church in mission: evangelism, discipleship, worship, community service, and a prophetic role. We believe that the integration of all of these elements with an appreciation of the African culture, position the local church as the hope for its community.

our other goals include:
4. accessibility for conference attendies looking to "experience" emergent, for what ever we are.
5. proximity to Columbia Seminary in Decatur.

we fealt like the goal of raising funds sets our taret audience far ahead of conference attendies to lovers of the arts.

so what do you think?

Welcome to the planning blog. Have fun planning.