The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) has called for an Encampment in Washington D.C. starting from Saturday September 22^nd and culminating in a mass march on Saturday September 29^th.

It’s absolutely critical that we take the struggle against the war out of the halls of Congress and put it where it needs to be -- back on the streets. We are calling on artists in the movement, musicians and spoken word artists specifically, to see if we can organize entertainment for the days of the encampment.

We don’t have funds, so this will have to be on a voluntary basis, but we want to attract more people into the street by having groups perform. Not to make light of the seriousness of the struggle, but because expressions of art are critical for the movement and to show that musical expressions are not superficial, as mass media would have many believe, but there is a great movement of musical artists that have yet to be exposed to the broader movement.

We are soliciting the help of artists, hip hop musicians, Blues, Jazz, Soul and R/B and Rock and Roll, to help build a musical/artistic component to this encampment.

We would like to have some kind of performance every day/night, perhaps culminating in a bigger concert on the Friday –September 28^th—before the march.

We do have a permit for the location for the entire week. We have a stage as well, about 3 feet high and 16 x 10. Our sound system is the basic hook up and we have generators. If artists would like to bring their own equipment or know where we can get better equipment that can be donated, please let us know. As it is, though, we don’t have music festival quality sound.

Contacts:

Larry Hales

cultureandresistance@troopsoutnow.org

Labels: antiwar, art, bands, encampment schedule, Encampment to Stop the War, iraq, music, protest, september 29, war funding