[AtlantaComposers.Com] Back To Iraq

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Dear Friends,

Once again, I'm heading back to Iraq, but this time it will be for at

least a year. First of all, I really appreciate those of you who

reached out last year to help with the new music workshop. I could

really use your help again this year in establishing an Academy for

language and arts in the north. Please feel free to forward this along

to anyone you know in the community who might be interested in helping.

Soulbird advocates and advances human rights and social justice through

community engagement in the arts (soulbird.org new Web site

forthcoming). In most of Iraq, being a singer, musician, dancer, or any

other creator of the arts can have grave consequences. Hundreds of

artists have been targeted for torture and murder since 2003, while

many have since fled the country (85% of singers).

We are opening an Academy in the relatively safer Kurdistan region of

Iraq to provide a safe place for Arab and Kurdish artists to work on

projects without fear of imminent death or danger. In addition to

providing courses in language and the arts, the Academy will serve as a

base for some of Soulbird's important human rights and community

organizing work, especially working to address the plight of artists in

Iraq today.

We would be very grateful for any in-kind donations, such as CDs (any

kind of music), DVDs (operas, musical performances/concerts, musicals,

dance performances, artist biographies, hollywood or indie films,

documentaries on social movements, etc.), books (anything arts-related;

social movements, etc.) and music scores (from standard repertory to

20th and 21st century composers). You can receive a tax-deduction for

these items through our fiscal sponsor. You can mail them to me, which

I will take with me to Iraq on October 17th.