On the Road with Peter Gabriel's "Scratch My Back" Tour

Our colleague Becky, who coordinates our Creative Advocacy work (that basically means getting creative types like musicians, actors, directors, artists involved with our human rights campaigns), was on the road earlier this month with our founder Peter Gabriel during his North American “Scratch My Back” tour.

WITNESS was featured on the tour with a video about us playing for the crowds prior to the start of the show, a text-to-sign-up-to-our-email list promo and a table staffed by dedicated volunteers so concert-goers could learn more about who we are and what we do.

Check out her blogs from the tour stops in Montreal and New York City.

Youssou N’Dour and local activists call for response to HIV/AIDS epidemic in Congo

Our colleagues Becky Lichtenfeld and Bukeni Waruzi traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo last week to work with local organizations and government officials and help catalyze action in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region. Watch this short video with a roundup of their time in Kinshasa and then read the string of blog posts for Becky’s daily reports and for links on how to take action!

Our Last Day at ‘Roo

Well, last night’s Kanye West performance turned into an early morning set. After a long delay, the sun started coming up and by the time we walked back to camp it was full daylight. Still it was worth it to have seen both a Tennessee sunrise and sunset.

The tent has been busy as festival goers try to get to all the activities they’ve missed in the last few days. Our box of signed postcards is almost full and we have lots of sheets full of names of people who want to be updated about WITNESS. Even the some of the Bonnaroo media staff was really into our mission and stopped by the tent.

3 hours left before we pack up and I’m exhausted but inspired and totally excited about the work we’ve done here at Bonnaroo and across the organization. I’m a bit sad that [...]

Continue reading Our Last Day at ‘Roo

Sunshine!

Despite more rain this morning, lots of people have been coming by the WITNESS tent. The sun came out in time for a really fun set by Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings.

I’ve also had an awesome time sharing the experience with all the other non-profits at Planet Roo. Folks from Oxfam, Carbon Shredders, Oceana and a bunch of other organizations have come by the tent to get more involved with WITNESS. We’ve gotten about 900 postcard petitions signed! (And you too can sign here) I’ve met an aspiring human rights lawyer, a young women who’s making a documentary in Ghana, a couple of activist musicians, and just lots of awesome people who care about social justice.

Tonight I’m looking forward to a late night performance by Kanye West, which ends a mere 6 hours before we open up the WITNESS tent for our last day of the [...]

Continue reading Sunshine!

Day Two continued

This has been a great day. It’s exciting for WITNESS staff to see first hand how people react to hearing about the work WITNESS and WITNESS partners are doing. There is a real sense of gratitude from the people passing by, and a real interest in getting involved.

I spoke on a panel about Arts and Activism yesterday with Marc Ross of Rock the Earth, Marc Brownstein of the band Disco Biscuits (and co-chair of Headcount), Tania Elizabeth of the Grammy nominated band The Duhks, Jennifer Fahy of Farm Aid and a few others. There were some interesting questions being raised, in particular – do artists have an obligation to use their platform for change? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think artists have more of an obligation then any one of us. We all live together on this planet, so it’s up to each [...]

Continue reading Day Two continued