Hosting Shake Your Peace! for Mestizos

Pedal-Powered Benefit Concert for West SLC Youth
7:30 - 9:30pm Friday, May 8th

Mestizo Coffeehouse

631 West North Temple, Suite 700

Salt Lake City, UT 84116

Starting at 6am everyday, when no one else will give them room, Mestizo Coffeehouse opens its doors for the West Salt Lake borderland youth to have a space for expression and inclusion.
Mestizo Coffeehouse which also houses the non-profit public art gallery, Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts (MICA), was started in 2003 by Terry and Ruby Chacon with the goal of building community and advancing cross-cultural dialogue through art. Ruby is the artist-in-resident who also mentors students from age eight to young adult. The gallery houses artwork her students have done as well as communal art projects such as murals that go into public art spaces when finished. Terry does creative and screen writing workshops for the youth that filter into the coffee house. But whether it is through writing or visual arts, both Ruby and Terry believe that each person has a story to tell and its worth being heard.

Friday May 8, 2009 from 7:30-9:30pm, Mestizo can become part of your story. We at Say it Green! are hosting a benefit concert for Mestizo, at Mestizo. There will be coffee, art, ideas, t-shirts, posters, and of course music. Donations will be accepted at the door or go online and give through Mestizo's website: www.mestizoarts.org/donate.html. Get a limited-edition Mestizo poster or t-shirt for $5 and $15 donations. The artwork for these posters and t-shirts was done by MICA youth.

But, lest you think your donation will only be monetary, the music and ideas can only be heard if you provide the power for the song and the word. This benefit concert is one stop that the bicycle touring sustainable rock-n-roll band Shake Your Peace! (http://www.shakeyourpeace.com/) and supporting act Utahpia 2009 will make on their tour through Utah. The band powers their sound equipment by having an audience member pedal their bikes in-place (made stationary with special kickstands) at the shows, creating electricity by harnessing the momentum of the free-spinning back wheel.

So whether you are donating money to Mestizo, riding the bike for Shake Your Peace, dialoging with the various Utah community leaders that make up Utahpia 2009, or getting to know the artistic youth at Mestizo, you will be agitating for a sustainable Salt Lake City, one that includes space for everyone's story.