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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250619T060000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250704T120000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250216T020016Z
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SUMMARY:Art with your Cuppa in Festival '25
DESCRIPTION:In 2023\, Raquell Holmes selected paintings\, photos and drawings from the art collection of Dr. LeVell Holmes\, her father. The selection focused on Jubilee and black cultures. This year\, we’re showcasing two Sonoma County artists associated with the Freedom Festival. Select pieces of Joanna Wheeldin and Amaya Yoshikawa will be on display at Johnny’s Java\, Cotati CA\, throughout the festival. \nGrab a cup of coffee. Take your picture celebrating freedom and independence with these artists’ work. Let their pieces inspire a poem and bring it to our in-person Poetry by the Bay June 25 or online Freedom Dreams Open Mic July 4. \nLeVell would have loved this festival! He was a cultural historian who felt that the ideal history professor is one who can talk about music\, science and art as well as political events. This year’s Freedom Festival events give expression to these cultural forms and the art of coming together. \nSee you at Johnny’s\, Roadhouse or online! \nConversation with Featured Artists: Joanna Wheeldin and Amaya Yoshikawa will be at Johnny’s Java on Saturday June 28th 10:30 am-12 pm to talk about their work and their experience of being Freedom Festival Freedomistas.
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/art-with-your-cuppa-25/
LOCATION:Johnny’s Java Coffee Shop\, Cotati CA\, 8492 Gravenstein Hwy\, Cotati\, CA\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/JJ_Art.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T163000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250526T160213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250701T190014Z
UID:10000107-1751382000-1751387400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Freedom From the Machine: The Uses and Abuses of AI
DESCRIPTION:12 pm PDT/ 2 pm CDT/ 3pm EDT \nJoin us. The increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of “Large Language Models” such as Chat-GPT\, or generative image models such as Dali opens up the possibility of increased productivity as well as individual expression. Much like other tools\, AI also has the potential to be used either carelessly or with malicious intent. To understand both the benefits and the pitfalls\, it is important to understand how AI is implemented\, what tasks it can do well\, what it can’t do well\, and how we can guard against malicious use.  \nJoin us for this session that will introduce some of the fundamentals of AI\, provide some hands-on experience with using these tools\, and open to a discussion about how they may shape our lives in the future. Open to all.  No AI experience necessary.  \nDiscussion Leads: Loretta Cheeks and  Nick Gross
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/freedom-from-the-machine-the-uses-and-abuses-of-ai/
LOCATION:online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/AI_Freedom_small.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Nicholas Gross":MAILTO:gross@bu.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T213000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250529T235710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250702T013502Z
UID:10000101-1751400000-1751405400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Online Embodiment Touching Closeup Love: a leaderless and leaderful embodied racial justice practice group
DESCRIPTION:5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET \n“Hope is invented every day.”\n– James Baldwin quoted in Resmaa Menakem’s book The Quaking of America \nJoin us. We are a group of 8 people who self-organize an online\, bi-weekly\, leaderless and leaderful\, embodied racial justice practice group. We began in response to Resmaa Menakem’s call for people to practice the offerings in his book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies with other people\, and to commit to practicing for the rest of our lives. We are organizers\, healing arts practitioners\, teachers\, facilitators\, artists\, yoga therapists and retirees. We are an intergenerational group\, from our 30s to our 70s\, in Illinois\, New York\, Ohio\, Texas\, Virginia\, and Washington DC-Baltimore. \nAs we near 5 years of practice together\, we want to open our circle up to others interested in experiencing how we gather. We’ll share what has been revealed to us over the course of our time in relationship with each other\, and how we’ve evolved to shape our lives with each other’s partnership. Join us for discussion and practice that tends to our bodies and our mutual development. \nResmaa Menakem calls his landscape of practice Somatic Abolitionism\, which is an embodied response to the problems of white-body supremacy. It is a “living\, embodied\, practice and culture of antiracism”. To learn more about Resmaa’s work\, check out the Black Octopus Society. We are not experts in or teaching Resmaa’s body of work. We are gathering to share our relationships with one another and our commitment to resourcing ourselves\, so we can show up more wholly and effectively in our lives and the conditions that have been created. And so\, maybe\, we can make small (perhaps inconceivable) shifts to these conditions\, in our lifetimes. \nJoin us with a cup of tea and in comfortable clothing. \nJuly 1\, 2025: 5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET \nCo-presenters include: C Meranda Flachs-Surmanek\, Vinny Mwano Jeffrey Pulis Jennifer O’Hara Michael Burnham Jen Schneeman Beth Anne Brooks-Mwano\, Barry Feldman
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/online-embodiment-touching-closeup-love-a-leaderless-and-leaderful-embodied-racial-justice-practice-group/
LOCATION:online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/improvscience-freedom-festival-banner-2-final-web-small-600x400px.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="C Meranda Flachs-Surmanek":MAILTO:merandissime@gmail.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250702T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250702T130000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250531T193404Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250702T193851Z
UID:10000109-1751454000-1751461200@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:The Philosophy of Freedom: A Roundtable Exploration
DESCRIPTION:11:00 am PDT/ 1 pm CDT/ 2 pm EDT \nJoin us. What is the philosophy of freedom? Freedomista Joanna Wheeldin is joined by SRJC philosophy instructors Sean Martin and Dr. Alexa Forrester to discuss freedom\, independence and nonviolent resistance. In this zoom meeting\, we’ll dive into texts like Barbara Deming’s On Revolution and Equilibrium and Edouard Glissant’s book chapter “For Opacity.” To join the conversation\, RSVP below. You’ll receive the link in an email. \nRecordings of the festival events will be available on the Freedom Festival Youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@FreedomFestivalUSA \nTaking place on July 2nd at 11:00 am PDT/ 1 pm CDT/ 2 pm EDT.
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/the-philosophy-of-freedom-a-roundtable-exploration/
LOCATION:online
CATEGORIES:Conversations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250702T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250702T173000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250602T042412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250702T233350Z
UID:10000113-1751473800-1751477400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Freedom and Independence: Fields\, Streets and Stars
DESCRIPTION:4:30pm PT / 6:30pm CT / 7:30pm ET \nJoin us in this online conversation with astrophysicist\, Dr. Hakeem Oluyesi. You may know Dr. Oluyesi from his appearance on The Science Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science\, conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson on StarTalk or on his own Does it fly podcast. Do you know his thoughts and experience of freedom and independence? \nHosted in conversation by Dr. Holmes\, we’ll explore Dr. Oluyesi’s experience of freedom in the rural south\, in academia at Tougaloo College and Stanford University. We’ll walk through what he has learned from his communities and history that now shapes how he creates opportunities that build bridges from fields and streets to the stars. \nHakeem Oluyesi is CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. A society with a history of inviting everyone–amateurs and experts– to participate\, to learn and to engage in the love of stars\, astronomy and physics. \nRaquell Holmes is Associate Director of EdEon STEM Learning at Sonoma State University bringing high-end technology platforms to teachers and students in rural high schools and middle schools. Check out the STEMACES program for professional development opportunities. \nJuly 2nd\, 4:30pm PT / 6:30pm CT / 7:30pm ET \n                 \n 
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/freedom-and-independence-fields-streets-and-stars/
LOCATION:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81191553572
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2022-06-05-at-2.48.05-PM-e1749427507820.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250703T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250703T133000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250523T193616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250703T142747Z
UID:10000106-1751544000-1751549400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:What to us is the Fourth of July? Does Freedom Ring True
DESCRIPTION:12 pm PDT/ 2pm CDT/ 3pm EDT The Declaration of Independence is one of America’s significant founding documents. On its face\, it is a declaration of war. A look at the structure of the document\, it follows the archetype of 18th century enlightenment thinking\, laying out fundamental principles drawn from the laws of nature and deriving conclusions based on these principles. But over all this\, the document lays out the values that the founders considered to be fundamental to the creation of a government\, and though imperfect\, the values for which the country should continuously strive. \n72 years later\, Frederick Douglass was asked to deliver an Independence Day address to the Rochesters Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The address\, entitled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” is a lament of the celebration of independence while so many in the US were enslaved. In contrast to the appeal to logic of the Declaration of Independence which strives for lofty goals\, Douglass’s address points out the hypocrisy inherent in the invitation and national celebration. Even so\, Douglass ends his speech “drawing encouragement from the Declaration of Independence [and] the great principles it contains”.  \nWe invite you all to join us at the Freedom Festival for a collective reading of excerpts from both the Declaration of Independence and Fredrick Douglass’s speech “What to a slave is the Fourth of July?”.  We’ll explore in conversation the relationship between these documents and freedom. Collectively\, we can create together our meaning of freedom and the Fourth of July. \nDiscussion Leaders: Nick Gross\, Rachell Moore\, and Jay Newman \nNick Gross\nJay “Glitch” Newman\nRachelle Moore\n 
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/what-to-us-is-the-fourth-of-july-does-freedom-ring-true/
LOCATION:online
CATEGORIES:Conversations
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/FF_vs_FD.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250703T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250703T200000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250629T032233Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250629T033647Z
UID:10000124-1751567400-1751572800@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Creative Playground - Let's Create Freedom and Liberation Together
DESCRIPTION:As part of the Freedom Festival\, we invite you to join members of our Monthly Creative Playground for a special workshop to explore\, perform and celebrate freedom and independence. \nDate: July 3rd\, 2024 at 3:30 pm PDT/ 6:30 pm EDT \nWe started the Creative Playground with a collective intent: that exploring creativity together is therapeutic. We have created a space where we foster our creativity\, and develop emotionally as well as artistically. We come together on Zoom the first Thursday of every month. Participants share\, respond to each other and we create with our varied histories\, identities\, stories and emotional responses to living in a world where crisis is the norm. In the Creative Playground we use the expressive arts (theater/improv\, poetry\, movement\, music\, drawing/collage) to create improvised conversations and art together. \nTogether we will explore what it means for people in America and internationally to come together to explore and celebrate freedom from slavery and our ability to collectively self-organize. All people have an experience of what freedom and independence mean to them. Through this festival\, we want to create OUR experience of liberation. \nRegister Here!
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/creative-playground-freedom/
LOCATION:online
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/https-cdn.evbuc_.com-images-528860329-154781269324-1-original.20230604-194446.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250704T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250704T143000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250602T040213Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T191910Z
UID:10000114-1751634000-1751639400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Freedom Dreams Open Mic & Festival Finale
DESCRIPTION:1:00 pm PDT/  3pm CDT/ 4 pm EDT \nOn the most celebrated occasion in the world\, independence from Britain\, we come together to explore and share our dreams of freedom. The Freedom Festival creates a platform\, a stage for people to speak\, to say what we have to say in our world of pain\, love and dreams. In this final Freedom Festival event\, we invite you to the stage in this poetry open mic. Hosted by improvscience duo\, Ashna Ali and Dr. Holmes. We’ll play with the poetry of life and word as we celebrate what are and have been able to create together. \nRaised in Italy and based in Brooklyn\, Ashna Ali is a queer and disabled child of the Bangladeshi diaspora\, and the author of The Relativity of Living Well (Bone Bouquet\, 2024) and the Substack\, PAIN BABY. Their work is featured or forthcoming from The Margins\, Indiana Review\, Sun Dog Lit\, and beyond. A Best-of-the-Net nominated poet\, they are the poetry editor for Epiphany Magazine and co-editor of Dead End Zine with Hunter Hodkinson. With Divya Victor\, they are the co-host of the poetry podcast The Source\, produced by Asian American Writers Workshop. They hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The Graduate Center\, City University of New York\, and are earning their MFA in the low-residency Creative Writing program at Randolph College. \nSign up to read: Participants who want to read should log on during the first 10 mins of the event to sign up and be prepared to read a poem for no more than 3 mins.
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/freedom-dreams-open-mic/
LOCATION:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88623052178
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/freedom-festival-connection-contact-us.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250712T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250712T123000
DTSTAMP:20260417T094953
CREATED:20250701T234828Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250712T180709Z
UID:10000125-1752318000-1752323400@freedomfestivalusa.org
SUMMARY:Freedomistas - Building Together - Welcome All
DESCRIPTION:Are you excited\, curious or interested in the Freedom Festival? In the Freedomistas zoom call\, we’ll playfully explore and discover what each of us have\, can and may bring to creating explorations of freedom and independence with neighbors and loved ones. \nMeet people around the country and the world also inspired by the Freedom Festival. Discover what others have done and see how you want to participate in the festival.
URL:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/freedomistas-building-together-welcome-all/
LOCATION:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/event/freedomistas-building-together-welcome-all/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freedomfestivalusa.org/wp-content/uploads/1000007252.jpg
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