Free Movement: Full Schedule

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6:20pm

Techmoja Dance and Theater-Company

Limited Capacity seats available

The evening starts with a performance by Techmoja Dance and Theater-Company.

This trailblazing company was born out of un-selfish true love, and that love remains the nucleus to this very day.

The company’s primary goal is to produce quality performance for the spectator and the performer.
The Techmoja Dance & Theater Company provides an outlet for creative artists of all ethnicities, whether trained or untrained, with hopes of fostering an abundance of talent. Inspiring those who dream and understand that true talent, “has no color, shape or size… just talent.

Speakers

Kevin Lee-Y Green

Techmoja Dance and Theater-Company

Kevin Lee-y Green has been a force on Wilmington’s theater and dance scene since, performing in and choreographing multiple shows for both his company, Techmoja Dance and Theatre Company.

Friday March 23, 2018 6:20pm - 6:30pm
Cape Fear Community College: Union Station (Room U-170) 502 N Front St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Performance

6:30pm

Keynote Speech "“Black Liberation Is Impossible Without Ending AIDS”

Limited Capacity seats available

Wilmington, North Carolina -- Journalist and author Steven W. Thrasher will present “Black Liberation Is Impossible Without Ending AIDS” is a co-sponsored keynote address for the Free Movement Conference and the HIV Awareness Walk on Friday March 23rd at 7:00pm.

Free and open to the public, Mr. Thrasher’s talk begins at 7 p.m. and is at the Cape Fear Community College (Union Station).

There will be no Black liberation in the United States or anywhere—and there will be no end to systemic, medical, or economic racism—without ending AIDS. Scholar and journalist Steven W. Thrasher will lecture about how the forces which make people vulnerable to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are the same forces which make life precarious for Black people. Beginning with his research on the case of Michael "Tiger Mandingo" Johnson, Thrasher will talk about how the criminalization of HIV impacts Black, queer, and/or disabled communities. He will also use his experiences reporting on the movement for Black lives in St. Louis, Baltimore, Oakland and New York City to address why one in two Black queer men are predicted to become HIV positive (despite having fewer sexual partners and lower uses of recreational drugs); why AIDS has receded as a political priority for many gay organizations; and, why HIV remains largely invisible in mainstream media. Riffing on the Combahee River collective, Thrasher will argue that eradicating AIDS from the face of the earth is impossible without ending anti-Blackness—and that eradicating anti-Blackness from the face of the earth is impossible without ending AIDS—because ending either would "necessitate the destruction of all systems of oppression."

More about Steven Thrasher:
Steven W. Thrasher is a doctoral candidate in American Studies at New York University and a Writer-At-Large for the Guardian. His writing has also been published in the New York Times, New York Review of Books, BuzzFeed, Esquire, Village Voice, Journal of American History, and Radical History Review. Steven has guest lectured at the American University of Beirut, the City University of New York, and Northwestern University, and his scholarship looks at the intersections of race, sexuality, policing, and HIV/AIDS. In 2012, Steven was named Journalist of the Year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association; in 2015, he was awarded the Al Neuharth Award for Innovation in Investigative Journalism by the Gannett Foundation for his reporting on HIV criminalization; and, in 2017, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Sociological Association's journal Contexts. You can follow him on Twitter @thrasherxy.

Speakers

Steven Thrasher

journalist, The Guardian

Steven W Thrasher is writer-at-large for Guardian US. He was named Journalist of the Year 2012 by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

Friday March 23, 2018 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Cape Fear Community College: Union Station (Room U-170) 502 N Front St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Keynote Speech

8:30pm

Sarus Festival & Free Movement present the Invisibility Project

Limited Capacity seats available

The Invisibility Project is a dance and spoken word performance exploring how current residents of Wilmington, NC see and experience each other when interacting across race lines in the wake of the Coup d'etat of 1898. The performance focuses on the thoughts and feelings that arise between people when they are faced with interacting with someone of a different race: bringing to light through movement the invisible processes that occur in these relationships. This project is the culmination of a series of discussions, exploration, and reflections within the cast that have occurred over a series of months. It was first performed at the riverfront in September 2017 and has been adapted for this new venue. This version includes further exploration of the female perspective and how race impacts the sexualization of women. A Q&A/discussion will directly follow the performance.

Speakers

Brittany Patterson

Invisibility project

Brittany Patterson has been dancing since the age of 5 and began choreographing as a teenager. She danced as an apprentice for Demetrius Klein Dance Company in Lake Worth, FL and has presented her own work in New York, NY in conjunction with DKDC. Brittany studied dance at SUNY Purchase for two years before changing career paths. Brittany has a BA in Literature from SUNY Purchase and a Masters in Social Work from Simmons College. She moved to Wilmington in May, 2011 from Boston, MA and has enjoyed reentering the dance scene in Wilmington with performances and choreography in North Carolina Dance Festival tours, Dance-a-Lorus, Wilmington Dance Festival, and SARUS festival since 2012... Read More →

Kelly Rae Williams

Athenian Press and Workshops

Kelly Rae believes that starting Poet.she Performing Arts is truly her greatest achievement. Her work with Poet.she has led to countless awards and recognition for her writing. Kelly Rae's published her first book in 2012, Real Girls Have Real Problems. Her recent work has been s... Read More →

Friday March 23, 2018 8:30pm - 10:00pm
Cape Fear Community College: Union Station (Room U-170) 502 N Front St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Performance

8:30am

REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Limited Capacity seats available

Pre-Registration is encouraged via the website. Day of registration will limited to availability. Contact us if you have any questions: info@workingnarratives.org

Breakfast is included with registration at the conference.

Saturday March 24, 2018 8:30am - 5:00pm
Lobby Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

REGISTRATION

9:30am

North Carolina Raises the Age: Changes to Schools and Judicial System

No matter what the offense, North Carolina’s century-old policy of sending 16- and 17-year-olds to adult jails and branding them with lifelong criminal records should end. In 2017 after many years of lobbying and advocacy, and numerous studies North Carolina lawmakers agreed to change the law for youth accused of misdemeanors and low-level felonies such as larcenies, break-ins and other non-violent crimes. The change will be implemented in 2019. This panel will discuss its impact and the development of interagency policy changes locally and state-wide toward ending the practice of sending young people into the adult prison system.

Speakers

Chief District Court Judge J. H. Corpening II

Judge J.H. Corpening, chief district judge of the Fifth Judicial District.

Frankie Roberts

LINC

Frankie Roberts was born and raised in Wilmington NC. He went to private school in his early years (K-8th grade) and he graduated from John T Hoggard High School. He owned and operated a community-based barbershop for approximately 18 years where he received his informal education in community organizing, job development, relationship building, and individual/family... Read More →

Dr. Janna Robertson

UNCW | Southeastern North Carolina Dropout Prevention Coalition

Dr. Janna Robertson has been an educator for over 30 years and is currently a professor at UNCW. Her research and publications focus in the areas of dropout prevention, teacher preparation, arts education, and community service learning. Dr. Robertson has been an educational cons... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Closing the School to Prison Pipeline

9:30am

Building Power Within & Power With to Mobilize Resources

Communities of color are devastated by wars waged against us in the name of safety. Slavery, divestment, displacement, and more are connected to community-level post-traumatic stress disorder and internalized oppression, which manifests in ways that make us play small, settle for less and work in isolation even when our work is about community and movement building. To transform self, systems and culture we must embody the change we envision using deep practice that grounds wisdom into our lives. This highly participatory session centers personal transformation, storytelling, community building and visioning to foster empowerment and interdependence among fundraisers and resource mobilizers. Using the Colorado Transformative Leadership Fellowship as a model, participants will begin visioning ways to individually and collectively raise resources to transform movements from the inside out.

Speakers

Davian Gagne

DCG Consulting/Transformative Leadership for Change

Davian has over 15 years of blended experience working in both the nonprofit and government sectors. She has deep experience with nonprofit development, fundraising, and social justice movement building. Most recently, she transitioned out of the nonprofit sector to be the Projec... Read More →

Taij Moteelall

Media Sutra, Inc.

Born in Guyana and raised largely in the Bronx, NY, Taij Kumarie Moteelall is an Indo-Caribbean artist, activist and entrepreneur. She founded Standing in Our Power (SiOP), a network of cis and transgender women of color, and gender non-conforming folks of color, committed to co-creating a new story of holistic transformation, sustainability and wellness. She launched Media Sutra as a vehicle for self-determination, and supports clients to infuse their work with breakthrough strategies that allows them to be more visible, sustainable and impactful.Taij has written and performed nationally and internationally, raised millions of dollars for social service and social justice organizations, established new organizations, transformed existing organizations, and supported leaders as a facilitator and coach. As the Director of Programs for Spirit in Action, she helped to revamp the organization’s mission, vision and theory of change, while supporting national networks to advance progressive communications, democratic education and transformative... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Grassroots Fundraising

9:30am

A Greater Understanding

How do we improve the health and well-being of people affected by drug use and drug policies? How do we do outreach nonjudgmentally and meet people where they are? In the face of skyrocketing rate of drug overdose deaths, reversing the uptick in HIV and Hepatitis C transhion calls for steering a path that recognizes drugs as a public health problem, not a criminal one. While a great number of expectations are often placed on drug users to change their behaviors, the social context that creates and reinforces drug-related stigma is rarely explored or further – challenged. Examining the impact of syringe exchange programs and other approaches, this session explores the relationship building that leads to participation making health care decisions, like looking into treatment.

Speakers

Jesse Bennett

Outreach Worker, North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

Jesse Bennett GED, BSW is a former drug user and a formerly incarcerated person. He works as an outreach worker and statewide volunteer coordinator for the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition and, as such, he participates in and advocates for harm reduction efforts in the c... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform

9:30am

Citizen Journalists

You have a lot to say. We tell you how to get your message out in a way that has reach and will be heard. This workshop will delve into how to tell honest and newsworthy stories in the community without compromising one’s views and morals. This workshop will also provide tools on how to effectively clarify and share your strongest narratives. With Azuree Bateman.

Speakers

Azuree Bateman

Belle Media Group | Bennett College

Azuree is a student journalist by day and organizer by night. She has a strong passion for political education amongst millennials. In May 2018, Azuree will obtain her Bachelor's Degree from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. Throughout her collegiate experience Azuree discovered her love for social justice and writing. She combined her love for the two and... Read More →

Tamara Jeffries

Associate Professor Journalism and Media Studies, Bennett College

Talk to me about creating/capturing/sharing non-fiction narratives; about the impact of media and social media images and activity on mental health; about experiences at a historically-black woman's college; about yoga and mindfulness practices for mental health (especially in t... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

9:30am

Competing Goals in Local Criminal Justice Reformers

The Valley Justice Coalition began in the urgent effort to stop the construction of a new jail and stop the expansion of the carceral state. Having won this initial campaign, they have tried a variety of approaches to advocacy at the local level. This workshop will describe divergent opinions and conflicts within the coalition which are representative of divergent interests and goals of criminal justice reform generally, with stories of both success and failures. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to role play some of the different kinds of advocates in their interactions with each other and in conversations with decision makers. Through this, they will gain clarity about how to navigate these conflicts and identify their own preferred advocacy strategies.

Speakers

Daniel Barrows

Chair, Valley Justice Coalition

Daniel Barrows has deep experience in building collaborative partnerships with those on the edges of society to work together toward personal and societal healing and growth. For six years, he animated a community of those who have experienced homelessness who teach sustainable l... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Strategies Against Mass Incarceration

9:30am

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

The Art of Dissent examines the way that artists and their art respond to social issues and speak to the struggles we face in our society. It also highlights the possibilities for the use of art as an integral part of social movements. The sessions hands on sessions will seek to offer a vision of dissent that encourages greater and more in-depth collaboration between artists and organizers in helping bring radical transformation.

Speakers

Dasan Ahanu

Radical Voice & Artistic Expression

Dasan Ahanu is a jack of many trades; he is a public speaker, poet, organizer, workshop facilitator, spoken word artist, educator, songwriter, writer and emcee. Dasan has hosted or coordinated many poetry, jazz, Hip Hop, and cultural arts events. He has helped to establish and grow cultural and performing arts organizations in North Carolina. Dasan is one of the founders of Black Poetry Theatre (BPT), a Durham based African American theatre company, where he is a writer, director, producer, and cast member. He has been featured on national radio and TV and has published three books of poetry... Read More →

Monifa Lemons Jackson

Co-Founder/Director, The Watering Hole Poetry

Monfia Lemons is an artist, writer, and educator. She is the co-founder and director of The Watering Hole, a writing retreat and artist development project for writers of color. Also recognized as SelahthePoet, Monifa began her poetic journey in Columbia, SC in the late 90s, wher... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Stage Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

9:30am

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

Speakers

Dasan Ahanu

Radical Voice & Artistic Expression

Monifa Lemons Jackson

Co-Founder/Director, The Watering Hole Poetry

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Stage Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

9:30am

Your Body Speaks

The importance of listening to your body after you eat. Do you feel tired? Or do you feel full of energy. This interactive session will discuss practices for deep listening to your body!

This session is a part of the Wellness as a Form of Social Activism will be offering a workshop area that encourages sessions that introduce people to healing justice. We want to share basic healing skills, and that share models for community and collective organizing around health and wellness.

Speakers

Chris Poorten

Wilmington Wellness

My name is Chris Poorten and I believe we have all been put on this earth for a purpose, and we all have many great strengths and talents to share with the world. Our lives are meant to be led with abundance, TRUE HEALTH, and service to others. I am very passionate about helpin... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Lobby Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Wellness as a Form of Social Activism

11:00am

Decriminalizing Childhood: Removing Youth from the Adult Criminal Justice System

This session will cover significant youth justice campaigns across the South that are focused on keeping youth out of adult courts, jails, and prisons, with an emphasize on efforts in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Speakers

Jeree Thomas

Campaign for Youth Justice

Jeree Thomas is the Policy Director at the Campaign for Youth Justice. She provides research and policy support to state advocates trying to end the prosecution, sentencing, and incarceration of youth in the adult criminal justice system. Before joining the Campaign, Jeree served as a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney with the JustChildren Program. She also served as the campaign manager of RISE for Youth, a statewide juvenile de-incarceration effort... Read More →

Tracey Tucker

Campaign for Youth Justice

Tracey Tucker is the Raise the Age SC Coalition Coordinator at the Campaign for Youth Justice. Over the past 20 years, Tracey has worked as a teacher and social worker. As a teacher, Tracey taught social studies and special education. As a social worker, she has worked with vari... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Closing the School to Prison Pipeline

11:00am

Practicing Harm Reduction in Rural Communities

What are the best ways to move harm reduction and drug policy reform forward in our rural communities? What is a cultural competency approach look like for rural needs? Rural residents face a variety of access barriers when it comes to seeking services. How does the lack of healthcare access affect population health and patient well-being in a community? What types of healthcare services are frequently difficult to access in rural areas? What are some strategies to improve access to care in rural communities? This session is lead by two rural practitioners and advocates who will share their experiences, models and approaches.

Speakers

Brandi Tanner

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

Brandi provides harm reduction services and naloxone to people who use drugs, do sex work and/or take bupe/methadone in the Northern rural counties for NCHRC.

Loftin Wilson

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

Loftin Wilson is a southern, queer, transmasculine harm reductionist originally from a small town in rural central NC, who now lives in Durham, NC. He started as a volunteer with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition in 2010 and then worked part-time as a Harm Reduction Org... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform

11:00am

MuckRock: Putting Public Records in Everyone's Hands

Learn how to use public records to open up government and shine a spotlight on how policies impact our every day life. MuckRock will share lessons learned from helping file over 40,000 records requests, including how to dig into incarceration, surveillance, policing and a variety of other key issues.

Speakers

Beryl Lipton

MuckRock

Senior Reporter Beryl C.D. Lipton is motivated by the inefficiencies that hinder a progressive democracy. She studied the History and Literature of America at Harvard College and likes to play with patterns and narrative constructions.

Michael Morisy

founder, MuckRock

Michael Morisy is the founder of MuckRock, a public records non-profit that works with journalists, activists, and researchers around the country for a more accountable and transparent government. A former editor at the Boston Globe, he regular advises on how to use transparency... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

11:00am

Who Is Your Media Strategy?

When you’re involved in your community and trying to amplify that work, it’s no longer enough to write good press releases or have a social media presence. Community members, organizers, advocates, and activists need to build relationships with local media in order to keep communities informed, spark change, build community power, and reverse harmful narratives. Our power lies in our relationships. When we don’t have relationships with the people telling our stories, we leave our stories to be told by those they do have relationships with: institutions and individuals who don’t always know us best.

Speakers

Alicia Bell

Organizer, Free Press

A Charlotte, NC Native, Alicia Bell currently organizes with News Voices: North Carolina, a project of Free Press aimed at shifting the culture of community and journalist interaction and relationship. Outside of their work with Free Press, Alicia is apart of the Angelou Collecti... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

11:00am

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

The Art of Dissent examines the way that artists and their art respond to social issues and speak to the struggles we face in our society. It also highlights the possibilities for the use of art as an integral part of social movements. The sessions will seek to offer a vision of dissent that encourages greater and more in-depth collaboration between artists and organizers in helping bring radical transformation.

Speakers

Dasan Ahanu

Radical Voice & Artistic Expression

Monifa Lemons Jackson

Co-Founder/Director, The Watering Hole Poetry

Saturday March 24, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Stage Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

12:30pm

LUNCH

Lunch served to conference participants.

Saturday March 24, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Theater Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

1:00pm

BRUSHSTROKES Documentary

“Brushstrokes” follows Janna Robertson, an education professor at UNCW, and
hundreds of volunteers as they create a 240-foot mural in a neglected section of
Wilmington. The documentary was directed by film studies student Jillian Carney
‘17 and funded by the Building a Better Wilmington Campaign. The campaign’s goal
is to showcase nonprofit organizations in southeastern North Carolina. This Award
winning short film (15 minutes) will be followed by a discussion and coloring books
will be given out to all participants. Additionally, anyone wanting to visit the Forest of
DREAMS after the conference, maps and guided tours will be available.

Speakers

Dr. Janna Robertson

UNCW | Southeastern North Carolina Dropout Prevention Coalition

Saturday March 24, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Closing the School to Prison Pipeline

1:00pm

DRUMMING WORKSHOP

Free Movement is getting ready for our conference on March 23-25th which will include a drumming crew. We need you to join us! Master drummer Imhotep Dlanod returns to help us organize this activity for the conference. The workshop is free, open to all levels, and open to the public.

Free Movement Parade is a performance and residency project conceived by Working Narratives and Techmoja Dance. Informed by the historic Orange Street landing slave escape this project examines social justice and free through a modern interpretation. Using a procession as the core form community participants are invited walk as a group a route along Orange Street ending at the Cape Fear River the site of the escape.

Speakers

Imhotep

Artist

Imhotep is a New Orleans indigenous person, who relocated to Asheville. He is passionate about carrying on the musical traditions of his New Orleans culture. Imhotep teaches song and drumming to local youth. He is also a drummer in a number of bands, including the “Absurdist Gypsy Folk Funk Punk” band, Sirius B., and Rising Appalachia. When Imhotep is not teaching, rehearsing or performing he works for Alternative Roots, a group that provides support to artists by helping them find venues. He also works for Red Zebra, a company that creates drumming exercises for corporate team building. Imhotep has been a resident teaching artist for LEAF Schools... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Performance

1:00pm

March For Our Lives - Wilmington NC

Organized by some local youth this rally will be a few blocks from the Free Movement Conference.

March For Our Lives will be a peaceful protest against gun violence and how we wish to make changes to laws or regulations for applying to receive guns. March For Our Lives also emphasizes school safety and actions that lawmakers need to take to improve the safety of schools. Join me and others in Downtown Wilmington, North Carolina for the march. Our permit states: start at Cape Fear Community College's sidewalk and then march down Water St. with detour to Riverfront Park to Princess Street back onto Water Street. And stop at the Federal Courthouse steps where there will be a stage set up.

Saturday March 24, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm
TBA Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Social Justice Lab

2:00pm

Creating and Managing a Grassroots Fundraising Campaign

Explore all of the elements of a successful grassroots fundraising campaign from recruiting volunteers and crafting compelling stories, to keeping your team motivated as you thunder toward your final campaign goal.

Speakers

Veronica Garcia

Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training

Veronica was born in Los Angeles and raised on the U.S./Mexico border in El Paso, Texas where she is based today. She has over 20 years of experience working with social justice nonprofit organizations and community groups on issues including access to health care, food and housing, quality education, anti-violence initiatives, LGBTQ equity, economic justice, anti-racism, and immigrant rights.Veronica is deeply committed to using the power of fundraising as a movement building strategy. She learned and internalized this powerful value as a graduate of GIFT’s Staff-in-Training Internship Program over 10 years ago. In the years since graduating from GIFT’s training... Read More →

Tanya Mote

Su Teatro

Tanya Mote is the Associate Director at Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center where she has practiced for 20 years to become a better grassroots fundraiser, facilitator, and cultural organizer. For four years, she has served as a track coordinator along with several colleagues nationally, for the Resourcing and Sustaining Our Movements track at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. She is a facilitator for the Colorado Creative Industries Change Leader Institute and serves as a board member for Working Narratives, Conejos Clean Water and Art2Action, organizations located in Wilmington NC; Antonito, CO; and Tampa, FLA, respectively. Previous board service has included six years with the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training and the National Performance Network. Tanya holds a Ph.D in International Studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies – DU and... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 2:00pm - 3:25pm
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Grassroots Fundraising

2:00pm

Getting to the Roots of It

The war on drugs and HIV/ AIDS have long acted as accomplices. The two crises have grown side by side, deeply influencing each other, and in some respects, a bright spot in the clouds that have shadowed HIV is how it has been an impetus of drug policy reform. People living with HIV/AIDS, and their allies, have propelled the passage of state medical marijuana laws and efforts to expand access to sterile syringes and medication assisted treatment. Why has HIV/AIDS been such a compelling rationale for drug policy reform? How has been harmed And how can we contemporaneously push it further and reach our goal of “getting to zero”? We'll hear stories from people living with and working in the HIV community who support harm reduction and safe syringe access.

Saturday March 24, 2018 2:00pm - 3:25pm
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform

2:00pm

Building Relationships that Heal - A listening approach to justice & reconciliation

This session will demonstrate practical strategies to promote social change through listening and honest conversations. Special emphasis will be put on how concepts of faith, justice & reconciliation require active listening. Relationship building will be encouraged to extend well beyond this event.

Too often, attempts at reconciliation or justice result in the polarization of people into camps or groups that talk at, but don't listen to, each other. Listening is essential to change.

Our focus & model is built for the South - and racial reconciliation is a major component of that model. We will show this as part of the facilitation, as Kenny will have a partner, Brian Dickey, sharing his perspective as an African-American as part of the session - and how they built a healing relationship.

Speakers

Kenny House

WLF

Kenny House is a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist and Certified Clinical Supervisor with over 30 years of experience in the substance abuse and mental health field. He has been involved in program development that has covered a wide range of services : from prevention to outpatient treatment for both adult and adolescent populations. Mr. House is the Vice-President of Clinical Services for Coastal Horizons Center- a local private, non-profit agency serving residents of New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties – and the Eastern Region of NC via Prevention and HIV/Early Intervention services. Mr. House was a co-investigator for a clinical trial utilizing Buprenorphine (Suboxone) and helped to lead a federally funded research project utilizing telemedicine in identifying HIV... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 2:00pm - 3:25pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Social Justice Lab

2:00pm

NC Surveillance Self-Defense

Increasingly digital surveillance is used by police to monitor communities. Learn about how digital activists are pushing back to protect privacy rights.

Saturday March 24, 2018 2:00pm - 3:25pm
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Social Justice Lab

2:00pm

End Prison Profiteering

Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration? This session profiles the powerful companies and individuals who are profiting off locking up too many people for too long. Get to know the profiteers and then take action to fight their abuses. Learn about Global Tel Link and how this price-gouging phone company profits off love, charging prisoners up to $17 for a 15-minute phone call. Learn how private for-profit prison healthcare company keep its costs low and profits high? By failing to provide sick prisoners with needed care. And get an update on how the Bail Industry is profiting with big fees. This session will also include updates on local, regional, and national campaigns you can get involved with to end profiteering.

Speakers

Paul Wright

executive director, Human Rights Defence Center

Paul Wright is the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center. He is also editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), the longest-running independent prisoner rights publication in U.S. history. He has co-authored three PLN anthologies: The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 2:00pm - 3:25pm
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Strategies Against Mass Incarceration

3:30pm

Investing in Youth Based Solutions

In the 1990's, youth organizing gained considerable momentum as a viable way for young people (ages 12-24) to realize their leadership potential and effect concrete changes in their communities and local institutions. Today, hundreds of community-based efforts across the country are engaging thousands of youth to push for social justice. This panel learns from local youth development programs who are building critical awareness and knowledge, developing problem-solving skills and proving that change and improvement is possible. The second half of this session will involve breakout groups where participants engage in interactive activities, describe experiences and share knowledge.

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Closing the School to Prison Pipeline

3:30pm

CULTIVATING MAJOR DONORS

Major donors are the people who care about building movement so much that they are willing to make a thoughtful investment in the work. Our work flourishes when we find these people and nurture successful partnerships with them. In this workshop we will explore standard cultivation methods and also think outside of the box about the long-term work of building powerful relationships with donors.

Speakers

Veronica Garcia

Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training

Tanya Mote

Su Teatro

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
TBA Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Grassroots Fundraising

3:30pm

Women of Substance

Many drug laws and policies over the past twenty years have had specific, devastating, and disparate effects on women, and particularly on women of minority backgrounds.There is a higher likelihood that women drug users will provide sex in exchange for housing, sustenance, and protection; suffer violence from sexual partners; and have difficulty insisting that their sexual partners use condoms. Women drug users may also rely on men to inject them with drugs and to acquire drugs and injection equipment, a behavior shown to increase the likelihood of injection with contaminated equipment. Fundamentally, women have different motivations to enter both drug use and drug treatment and in the personal dynamics that play a part in treatment success. Despite evidence of important differences in drug use experiences and access to harm reduction services for women and men, gender-sensitive interventions have not been fully integrated in harm reduction. In this workshop, we’ll focus on the unique experiences of women who use drugs and their stories.

Speakers

Margaret Bordeaux

NCHRC

Margaret Bordeaux, a Wilmington native and HIV/AIDS case manager, helps NCHRC organize HIV+ &/or Hepatitis C+ people, as well as people impacted by the war on drugs in the community and places where incarcerated people reside. Margaret also runs the Wilmington area volunteer pro... Read More →

Sue Purchase

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

Sue Purchase has twenty plus years of experience in harm reduction, as it relates to drug use, overdose, and the prevention of HIV, Hepatitis, and other blood-borne related illnesses. She was first introduced to the concept of harm reduction in the late 80’s while navigating he... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform

3:30pm

Stomp out HIV Stigma & Discrimination

Knowledge about HIV transmission and treatment has evolved since it was first identified in 1981. Despite understanding on how to prevent HIV transmission and treat HIV effectively, stigma, discrimination and lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS are contributors to underutilization of care and lack of resources. New infections of HIV are not declining in the south east especially in remote areas despite the tapering off of new HIV infections in other areas of the US.

This session is interactive and will address the perceptions and beliefs about HIV through role play and conversation. There will be an opportunity to address fears, misperceptions, and give facts about risks, prevention tools, treatment and resources.

Speakers

LeShonda Wallace

SEEDS of Healing, Inc.

LeShonda Wallace is a Family Nurse Practitioner, HIV Care Provider and Integrative Health Coach. Currently she practices at New Hanover Regional Medical Center HIV Care Team located in Wilmington, North Carolina. In addition to her clinical practice as an HIV Care Provider, she is the Founder and Executive Director for Sustaining Empowerment by Educating and Developing Sisters or SEEDS of Healing, Incorporated (SOH, Inc... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Health Equity

3:30pm

Anti-Oppression Media Strategies Toward Transgender Justice

Media has played a powerful role in advancing transgender justice and equity -- by providing deeper information about systemic injustice, elevating historically excluded and endangered voices, and offering a more inclusive vision of our communities. But media makers and journalists can also be doing more to build anti-oppression values into their work. What can the media community do to more closely engage transgender advocates, and support transgender journalists? How has media coverage of transgender experience been narratively limited? What considerations can journalists be making about their language, process, and person-to-person engagement? In this interactive panel discussion, we'll be hearing from writers and advocates on these questions and more.

Speakers

Gabrielle Bellot

Gabrielle Bellot is a staff writer for Literary Hub. She grew up in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Shondaland, Guernica, Slate, Tin House, The Paris Review Daily, The Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Magazine's The Cut, VICE, The Normal School, Electric... Read More →

Kyle Dacuyan

PEN America

Kyle Dacuyan is the Senior Manager of Literary Outreach & Activism at PEN America, where he facilitates partnerships with other cultural and advocacy organizations, and leads PEN America's community engagement funding for members, writers, and other allies. He currently manages t... Read More →

Reverend Debra J. Hopkins

Rev. Hopkins is Co-Founder/CEO of Sisters Together And Reaching, Inc. (STAR), a faith-based, non-profit community organization that provides spiritual support, direct services and prevention education to HIV/AIDS infected, and affected African-American women and men.Rev. Hickman... Read More →

Lewis Wallace

Scalawag

Lewis Wallace is an independent writer, editor and multimedia journalist. He is the State Politics Editor at Scalawag, and has previously worked for public radio's Marketplace in the New York bureau. Before that, Lewis was the economics reporter and managing editor at WYSO Public... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

3:30pm

Truth, Fear and the Wilmington Water Crisis

Since the Wilmington StarNews first reported in 2017 that Chemours had been pumping the industrial chemical GenX into our local water source, people in the Cape Fear region have been struggling to get clear answers about what happened, who’s responsible, what health risks we've been exposed to, and what the environmental consequences are. This interactive panel discussion will bring together journalists covering the story with activists seeking accountability to discuss how community members can help gather facts and evidence, and about how and why to center facts and evidence in the public conversation of this issue. We’ll invite attendees to share their own questions and concerns to encourage reporting that’s responsive community needs

Speakers

Dana Sargent

Cape Fear River Watch

Dana Sargent's academic experience includes a BA in journalism and an MS in environmental sciences and policy. She is the president of the board at Cape Fear River Watch where she also chairs the Advocacy Committee and where she is working as a contract employee on a clean water... Read More →

Melanie Sill

Self/ Consultant

Melanie Sill is an experienced news executive and journalism change-maker who currently works as senior consultant for Democracy Fund’s North Carolina local news ecosystem efforts. She held the top news jobs at The News & Observer of Raleigh, the Sacramento Bee and KPCC/ Southe... Read More →

Lisa Sorg

environmental reporter, NC Policy Watch

Lisa Sorg is an award-winning environmental investigative reporter with NC Policy Watch in Raleigh. A journalist for 24 years, Sorg has a keen interest not only in the environment, but also the social justice impacts of pollution and corporate malfeasance. She recently won two se... Read More →

Adam Wagner

StarNews

Adam Wagner is a reporter for StarNews, where he writes about the environment from a regional perspective. He has covered GenX and the Wilmington water crisis intensely since the story broke. He's also covered public safety, transportation and public health issues. A native of Pi... Read More →

Saturday March 24, 2018 3:30pm - 4:55pm
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

5:00pm

Free Movement Parade & Orange Street Landing

Free Movement Parade is a performance and residency project conceived by Working Narratives and Techmoja Dance. Informed by the historic Orange Street landing slave escape this project examines social justice and free through a modern interpretation. Using a procession as the core form community participants are invited walk as a group a route along Orange Street ending at the Cape Fear River the site of the escape.

Speakers

Kevin Lee-Y Green

Techmoja Dance and Theater-Company

Kevin Lee-y Green has been a force on Wilmington’s theater and dance scene since, performing in and choreographing multiple shows for both his company, Techmoja Dance and Theatre Company.

Saturday March 24, 2018 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Hannah Block Community Arts Space 120 S 2nd St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Performance

6:00pm

Dinner Break

You are on your own for dinner.

Saturday March 24, 2018 6:00pm - 8:00pm
TBA Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

7:30pm

Wilmington on Fire

The Wilmington Massacre was a bloody attack on the African-American community by a heavily armed white mob with the support of the North Carolina Democratic Party on November 10, 1898 in the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina. It is considered one of the only successful examples of a coup d'état in the United States that left countless numbers of African-American citizens dead and exiled from the city. This event was the spring board for the white supremacy movement and Jim Crow segregation throughout the state of North Carolina and the American South. “Wilmington on Fire” gives a compelling historical and present day look at this event showing how the violent overthrow of an existing government not only cemented white supremacy in the city of Wilmington and the state of North Carolina but also throughout the United States of America.

Saturday March 24, 2018 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Jengo's Playhouse 815 PRINCESS STREET

Social Justice Lab

8:00pm

Mixer at Foxes Boxes

Light fare served with drinks. Come meet up with folks from the Free Movement conference and network. The mixer will be held at Foxes Boxes ( 622 N 4th St, Wilmington, NC 28401). There is street parking up and down 4th street.

Saturday March 24, 2018 8:00pm - 11:30pm
Foxes Boxes 622 N 4th St, Wilmington, NC 28401

Performance

8:30am

REGISTRATION & CONTENTIAL BREAKFAST

Pre-Registration is encouraged via the website. Day of registration will limited to availability. Contact us if you have any questions: info@workingnarratives.org

Sunday March 25, 2018 8:30am - 9:30am
Lobby Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

REGISTRATION

9:30am

Resilience documentary

Resilience is a one-hour documentary that delves into the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Toxic Stress. These are the leading causes of everything from heart disease and cancer to substance abuse and depression, extremely stressful experiences in childhood can alter brain development and have lifelong effects on health and behavior. However, what’s predictable is preventable. These physicians, educators, social workers and communities are daring to talk about the effects of divorce, abuse and neglect. And they’re using science to help the next generation break the cycles of adversity and disease. Panel discussion will follow the film.

Sunday March 25, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Theater Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Closing the School to Prison Pipeline

9:30am

Basic Budgeting and Financials for the Grassroots Fundraiser

As a fundraiser, budgets and financial statements are powerful tools to help define your fundraising approach, strengthen your pitch, and monitor your progress towards annual fundraising goals. Come to this session todemystify both of these tools. Learn how creating a budget givesyou a template and financial reports help you stay on track as youimplement your mission-driven work throughout the year. Bothgive you the power to communicate the financial health of yourorganization to your staff, board members, supporters, and community.

Speakers

Veronica Garcia

Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training

Tanya Mote

Su Teatro

Sunday March 25, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Grassroots Fundraising

9:30am

Reentry: Stories and Solutions

This session provides a platform for formerly incarcerated people to present effective models that address the challenges facing people with criminal histories. The session highlights a series of short talks by formerly incarcerated individuals on topics such as harnessing the political power of the formerly incarcerated, crime and violence reduction, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and trauma informed care. In addition the session will include an overview of the barriers (access to house, employment, education) that the formerly incarcerated face. Following the presentations, there will be a brainstorming and engagement with those that attend.

Speakers

Margaret Bordeaux

NCHRC

Sunday March 25, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Reform

9:30am

Wilmington Food Insecurity Through the Lens of Access, Health and Structural Racism

This track will discuss and glance at what food insecurity looks like in identified food desert regions, Wilmington and New Hanover County as a whole, and how it impacts individuals and families. A variety of variables will be touched on: populations who are greater effected by food insecurity, access to transportation and support, health effects and how the history of systemic racism and discrimination has contributed to this in the past and present. It will additionally provide resources and acknowledgment of current programs and collaboration that exist in combating the powerful implications of food insecurity on a local level.

Speakers

Jordyn Appel

Community Food Access Coordinator, Feast Down East

Jordyn Appel, Local Food Access Coordinator, is Michigan grown and had an early passion for environmental consciousness and action. While attending Grand Valley State University, she worked in New Zealand and the greater Grand Rapids area farming small to mid-size sustainable a... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Health Equity

9:30am

How to Keep an Eye on Raleigh: A veteran journalist shows you how to make sense of goings on at the NC General Assembly

Wherever you live in North Carolina, political decisions that affect your life and the issues you care about are made at the state legislature in Raleigh. Even professional journalists find it hard to follow all the deals and happenings that go down on Jones Street if they’re not closely familiar with the place and its customs -- and if they’re not physically present in the rooms where things happen. In this workshop, Kirk Ross will provide a densely informative guide to decoding and contextualizing everything from the state budget to committee meetings to those down-to-the-wire bill negotiations -- even if you’re hundred of miles away.

Speakers

Kirk Ross

Based in Chapel Hill, Kirk Ross is a longtime North Carolina journalist and the lead journalist reporting on the N.C. General Assembly’s activities in Raleigh for Carolina Public Press and Coastal Review Online. His reporting and opinion pieces have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Post and the (Raleigh) News... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 9:30am - 10:55am
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

11:00am

Super Simple Fundraising Planning

Having a fundraising plan seems like a good idea, but where do you start? We'll dig into the seven basic questions you should answer to put together a roadmap for your fundraising work. You'll leave the workshop with a template you can use year after year, and a draft of your fundraising plan for the coming year.

Speakers

Heather Yandow

Nonprofit Consultant, Third Space Studio

Heather Yandow brings more than 15 years of nonprofit experience as facilitator, trainer, coalition leader, project manager, and fundraiser to Third Space Studio. She helps organizations with strategic planning, board development, business model design, implementing fundraising strategies, and going from good to great... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Grassroots Fundraising

11:00am

Working to Overcome Stigma and Ensure Access to Healthcare for All Substance Users

Substance use disorders are commonly associated with criminal or moral behavior. As a result, care delivery for individuals occur separately from mental and other health care services. Traditional health care systems do not integrate prevention and treatment options for substance misuse into their agencies and resources are limited due to minimal or no insurance coverage. The separation of substance abuse treatment from general medical services limits accessibility and perpetuates both community and medical provider stigma around substance abuse diagnosis and treatment.
Substance misuse is a mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorder. Acknowledging it as such is a step towards the right direction for solving the larger problem. Our region has relied on the public health response which is delayed and uncoordinated. Evidence-based medical interventions suggest that integrated holistic care for prevention, treatment, and recovery services is key to effectively care for all substance users. This session will discuss the unique challenges for Wilmington, NC where the stage is set for handling the substance abuse crisis.

Speakers

Margaret Bordeaux

NCHRC

Raymond Smith

Raymond Smith is currently the Operations Manager for Environmental Services for New Hanover Regional Medical Center. In his spare time, he is involved in recovery from addiction activities from 12 step fellowship participation to being active with the B.A.C.K.O.F.F. Brunswick program that attempts to assist active opiod addicted individuals as well as family members of active opiod addicted individuals... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
ROOM E Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Health Equity

11:00am

The Legacy of Black media in North Carolina: Honoring our past to envision our future

From the targeting of Alex Manly’s newspaper in 1898 to the emergence of independent Black-owned media outlets following the Kerner Commission report, to today’s online resistance, media has been a battleground for those fighting white supremacy. Join the conversation about North Carolina’s legacy of independent Black voices and help us imagine a media system that lifts up community, building toward racial and social justice that benefits us all.

Speakers

Brett Chambers

Triangle Association of Black Journalists

Brett Chambers has spent most of his adult life finding and presenting positive images of people, especially people of color, on television, radio, film, recording, or the classroom. He teaches mass communication and education technology at North Carolina Central University, he t... Read More →

Octavia Rainey

journalist

Octavia Rainey is a journalist and community advocate, a 1978 graduate of St. Augustine’s University and a lifelong resident of Raleigh. A columnist for The Carolinian, an African American community newspaper founded in 1939, and a radio talk show host on 750 AM WAUG, Rainey ha... Read More →

Joseph Torres

Senior Director of Strategy and Engagement, Free Press

Joseph Torres is Senior Director of Strategy and Engagement at Free Press. He advocates in Washington to ensure our nation’s media policies serve the public interest and builds coalitions to broaden the movement's base. Joseph is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller N... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room C Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Journalism & Media Justice in the South

11:00am

Formerly Incarcerated and Prisoner Families Organizing for Justice

Across the country formerly incarcerated people and prisoner families are organizing for justice. Join this dialogue with veteran organizer Lillie Branch Kennedy.

Speakers

Lillie Branch Kennedy

Resource, Information, Help for the Disadvantaged & Disenfranchised.

Lillie Branch-Kennedy, co-founder of the Community Restoration Campaign, and founding director of Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged, has taken on the full range of hardships encountered by prisoners and their families, from supporting children of incarcerated parent... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Strategies Against Mass Incarceration

11:00am

Until We're All Free: A World Without Prisons

It's time to shut down all these prisons, y'all. But what would it take to make that a reality? Join us for a workshop that combines storytelling, visionary art, and speculative role plays to help bring a world without prisons to life.

Speakers

Ariel Eure

Carolina Youth Action Project

Ariel is a Black queer womanist from southeastern Virginia. As a socialist and abolitionist, they believe in the power and necessity of community movements for justice. They are a political educator, facilitator, performer, and radical youth worker.Ariel has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a M.S.Ed. from... Read More →

Ren Trueblood

Carolina Youth Action Project

Ren is a queer Asian-American femme from the backwoods of Boiling Springs, South Carolina. They received their B.A. from Winthrop University in 2016. As the child of a war refugee who witnessed but was unable to name the traumas of misogyny and imperialism, Ren continues to learn... Read More →

Sunday March 25, 2018 11:00am - 12:25pm
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Strategies Against Mass Incarceration

12:30pm

LUNCH & OPEN SPACE BREAKOUTS

Lunch served to conference participants.

Sunday March 25, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Theater Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

12:30pm

Open Space: Black Man Running Organizing

Join the effort to organize and grow the Black Man Running community engagement project. The goal is to talk about how to build the community capacity to engage around creating racial justice, which building a culture of health. If you want to get involved, brainstorm, and help plan this is a great open space dialogue to join.

Sunday March 25, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Room A Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

12:30pm

Open Space: People's Movement Assembly

Community organizers across the United States have used the PMA to gather people affected by injustice, analyze what is happening in communities, and create collective plans of actions to address those conditions. Learn how to get involved in theSouthern region with a growing PMA!

Sunday March 25, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Room B Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

12:30pm

Closing Session for The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

This is the closing reflection session for people who participated in The Art of Dissent.

The Art of Dissent examines the way that artists and their art respond to social issues
and speak to the struggles we face in our society. It also highlights the possibilities for
the use of art as an integral part of social movements. The sessions hands on sessions
will seek to offer a vision of dissent that encourages greater and more in-depth
collaboration between artists and organizers in helping bring radical transformation.

Speakers

Dasan Ahanu

Radical Voice & Artistic Expression

Monifa Lemons Jackson

Co-Founder/Director, The Watering Hole Poetry

Sunday March 25, 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Room D Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

The Art of Dissent: Arts Activism & Radical Transformation

2:00pm

Closing Celebration

What are the stories and ideas we intend to carry back home with us from FM2018? How will we continue to get ready and stay ready in all the days between now and AMC2018? Join Wilmington's Techmoja Dance as we come together for a closing celebration to conclude the 2nd annual Free Movement Conference.

Sunday March 25, 2018 2:00pm - 2:30pm
Theater Hannah S. Block Community Arts Center

Performance