October 20, 2021 - Freedom Songs

Mark your calendar! At 7 p.m. on Nov. 12  in Cordiner Hall, Freedom Songs returns after a hiatus last year due to COVID-19. Freedom Songs is a program created and organized by students that specifically looks at uplifting various forms of music and art to recognize the differences in our society. The program is specifically a racial justice event that consists of three parts (concert, zine, and reflection party) all of which look at issues of race, privilege and different forms of oppression that come alongside our differences in America.

Developed and organized in 2016 by Joel Ponce '16 and Jess Faunt '17, Freedom Songs has grown into a signature campus program. This year’s executive team for Freedom Songs includes Creative Director Marina Balasanyan ’24, Music Director Bethany Hermann ’23, Zine Editor Marharyta Tkachenka ’24 and Event Coordinator Saki Bishop ’24. With the support of the Intercultural Center, the executive team is recruiting participants and coordinating resources to produce a powerful multimodal program.

Recognizing how the pandemic has impacted our community cohesion, the theme for Freedom Songs this year is Pieces of Home. As the organizers explain:

“We are coming back together with different pieces of ourselves and our culture to create a new puzzle. In this year’s Freedom Songs, we share these pieces of our homes through the universal language of art and performance. We gather around to listen to stories untold, celebrate our experiences, cry out our struggles, and feel a sense of belonging. As our puzzle pieces come together, we begin to make connections that we could not see before, and we face each other's struggles to help heal.”

There are multiple ways to participate in this year’s Freedom Songs:

• Submit art, prose, poetry or anything that can be printed to the zine; email Tkachenka with submissions or questions.
• Perform in the Freedom Songs concert; email Balasanyan and Hermann by next Wednesday, Oct. 27.

For more information, visit the website and follow Freedom Songs on Instagram.