For
a few hours on a rainy night in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, a collection of poets, musicians, and dancers came together
to use the arts to illuminate and inspire new ideas of community and
social change. On November 13, 2006, The
Berkana Institute hosted Rhyming for a Reason, an evening of song,
celebration and powerful poetry. A fundraiser for Berkana, the event was
a celebration of power of the arts to create social change and an
opportunity to share stories of resilient communities that are emerging
everywhere.
Seven dancers, five
poets, three musicians, sponsors, donors, a unique theater, and a
community of staff and volunteers came together for a unique and
affecting night.
Rhyming for a Reason was held in
José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre,
housed in the historic
Old Cambridge Baptist Church.
The José Mateo Ballet Company is a nonprofit professional performance
company and school with a commitment to artistic excellence and community
outreach. The space proved uniquely ideal for the performances, the silent
auction, the sponsor's reception, and the tables featuring information on
Berkana Exchange Learning Centers from around the world.
The evening began with
a stirring opening from poet and emcee Tim Merry, who invited the audience
to open their hearts to the transformative power of spoken word. Tim and
other poets were accompanied by the Jeff Robinson Trio, who wove their
jazzy improvisations into many of the performances. Poet Derrick Ashong
flew in from Los Angeles and
performed a work based on traditional African American spirituals.
Berkana co-founder
and internationally acclaimed author Meg Wheatley
shared her prose poem "Dreaming World," where she discussed the reality of
being an American doing social justice work in the world: “I know that I
spend more on a morning cup of coffee than over half the world has
available to live on for that entire day… I know that 700 children die
every hour from starvation as I watch the cooking channel."
Poets Harlym 1two5 and Adam Stone then took the stage with a join poem
exploring hate crimes and finding the common ground between homophobia and
racism. Tim Merry returned to the stage, alongside Berkana Co-President
Deborah Frieze, to perform a poetry-prose duet about Berkana’s work with
social activists and change agents in Africa, India,
Latin America and here at home. After a short break, the evening’s
headliner, Iyeoka Okoawo, stepped up to blow the audience away with her
unique combination of musical performance and poetry. Her opening was
this:
An ancient Chinese
proverb states: May you be granted everything you want, except this
one. And may this one take you all your lifelong to achieve. May this be
the one thing that you rise with in the morning, that you dream of at
night, that may give your life meaning.
Accompanied by the
Jeff Robinson Trio, Iyeoka’s poems, sometimes shocking and always moving,
wove the evening together, integrating the strands of hope and despair and
possibility that had been expressed throughout the evening.
It was made abundantly
clear this night how the arts inspire us to connect more deeply with our
potential to create change. The combination of music from the Jeff
Robinson trio, poetry from our performers, dance from José
Mateo's Ballet Company and the creative materials from our learning
centers touched everyone who attended. Many of the Rhyming for a Reason
guests have told us that this night brought Berkana’s vision alive in a
new way. The work seemed more real, the intentions of community leaders
more vivid because it had been shared through the arts. Creative
expression defines our individual and collective being, is part of our
dignity and self-worth and is unique to us as humans.
For a few hours on November 13, new
possibilities were opened for every person in that room: the
possibility of community, of change, and of our capacity to create the
world we want to live in.