LA County Anti-Hate Songfest Saturday

LA COUNTY ANTI-HATE SONGFEST THIS SATURDAY
Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations Chooses Project: One
Youth Finalists for Day-long Workshop to Combat Hatred through Music

WHAT: Fifty high-energy, creative, aspiring teenage musicians, poets, rappers and songwriters will come together this Saturday with professional, award-winning musicians to combat hatred and the recent rise in hate crimes -- with their own songs. In a groundbreaking, creative new approach designed to alleviate racial tension and reduce the racialized gang violence that continues to plague Southern California, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ zerohour: No Haters Here! youth initiative, will hold their first day-long songwriters’ workshop for Project: One: One Love. One Mic. One Song. For more information, visit http://www.zerohour.com/projectonela.

WHO: Fifty select LA County youth
Professional, award-winning musicians and songwriters including:

- KC Porter, Founder of Oneness, triple-GRAMMY award-winning producer of Ricky Martin, Selena and Carlos Santana

- Money Mark from The Beastie Boys

- Jon Platt, executive vice president/head of Urban, Creative, West Coast, for EMI Music Publishing

- Harold Lilly, Jr., GRAMMY award-winning songwriter for Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx, Luther Vandross, Janet Jackson, Ruben Studdard and Fantasia

- Avila Brothers, Bobby and IZ, producers of Usher, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey

- Debra Byrd, vocal coach and arranger for American Idol

- Leon Mowgli, jazz musician, percussionist for Ben Harper

- Poncho, bassist for War

- Lindy Robbins, award-winning, multi-platinum selling songwriter for Nick Lachey, The Backstreet Boys, Faith Hill and Toni Braxton

- Pamela Phillips-Oland, GRAMMY-nominated songwriter

WHERE: Los Angeles Music Academy
370 South Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105

WHEN: Saturday, April 25, 2009

10: 00 am – Registration

11: 00 am – Welcome Address by Lea Ann King, LA County Commission on Human Relations
Keynote Speech by Jon Platt
Drum Circle led by Leon Mowgli

Noon – Part One of Songwriting Sessions

3:00 pm – Part Two of Songwriting Sessions

6:00 pm – Performance of Songs Written by Each Group

8:00 pm – Close of Summit

WHY: Project: One is a component of the County Human Relations Commission’s overall campaign to reduce the record number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County, which rose 28% last year, to 763, the highest number in the past five years, according to the Commission’s annual report. Ten percent of those hate crimes occurred in schools, and nearly 1 in 3 high school students have reported being harassed because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey.

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations has been in existence for over 60 years working to improve the way different groups of people get along in L.A. County. As one of the oldest and largest human relations agencies of its kind in the United States, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations serves one of the largest and most diverse populations in the country in addressing the human relations needs through its commitment to fostering harmonious and equitable inter-group relations; empowering communities and institutions; and promoting an informed and inclusive multicultural society. The Commission works to develop programs that proactively address racism, homophobia, religious prejudice, linguistic bias, anti-immigrant sentiment, and other divisive attitudes that can lead to inter-cultural tension, hate crimes and related violence.