Come gather around the fire, and let the richness of the day’s events and learning integrate and resonate in song!  Music builds community, and is essential to carrying a movement forward!  What are the songs for our time, and how can we use music to catalyze our communities, create unity, uplift hearts and build our movements?  Composer and singer Ysaye Barnwell teaches that in the African-American tradition, every song has a purpose and that songs are the backbone of building community.  We will share simple songs that you can sing and teach to others, and will invite you to share your songs also.  

Presented By: Tara Marchant, Katia Sol, Christopher Kuntzsch

Saturday, September 17th | 7:45 – 8:45 PM | Fire Pit (Hops Tipi)

2016 Convergence Panel: Artists In Action

2016 Convergence Performance: Tatu Vision

Saturday, September 17th | 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM/ 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM | Main Stage

Michael Lott is an abstract artist whose work is heavily inspired by his travels, the healing of our relationship with nature, humanity’s movement towards spiritual integration, as well as the worlds opened up to him via dreams and the collective unconscious. The unique style that Michael’s work takes on is inspired by synesthesia, a “condition” in which Michael’s senses overlap and he perceives music and sound visually as a flowing, interwoven dance of colors and abstract patterns. Michael believes that his work holds rich subconscious symbolism, and that it can be seen as a foreign yet universally familiar language. www.michaellottart.com 

XEO is an electronic/acoustic/vocal artist. His songs are often inspired by nature, spirituality, and the human condition.

2016 Convergence Performance: Thursday, September 15th | 8:00 – 9:00 PM | Main Stage 

The Commons is a documentary film about communities all over the world re-asserting sustainable, responsible futures using ancient Commons principles. The Commons are the shared resources of the world, owned by all, not just a few. The Commons are an ancient-new open-source code around the sharing of resources.

Five years in the making, we listened as 49 communities in the Americas, Europe and south Asia told us what has made their Commons work over the centuries. In the face of commodification and privatization, when everything seems to have a dollar value, Commoners are now saying, we’re taking a new path forward… http://commonsfilm.com/

Presented By: Bunker Seyfert

Thursday, September 15th | 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Yurt

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Permie-journos Steven Saint Thomas and Trudy Thomas traveled from San Francisco to Seattle to document the West Coast’s burgeoning Transition movement. See how permaculturists are taking design principles to the collective level, transforming whole communities to build resilient, local food systems.

“Adventures in Permaculture: Transition West Coast” documents how permaculturists are transforming whole communities to build resilient, local food systems.

This film follows on the heels of “Adventures in Permaculture: Australia.” We interviewed leading West Coast permaculturists and Transitionists – including Penny Livingston, Trathen Heckman (Daily Acts), Brock Dolman (Occidentl Arts & Ecology Center), Carolyne Stayton (Transition US), Jackie Cramer (Beacon Food Forest) and Matt Bibeau (City Repair). If permaculture is going to be relevant in the next 25 years, it must take design principles to the next level – the community!

Followed by Q&A from the Directors:  STEVEN SAINT THOMAS & TRUDY THOMAS

Presented By: Steven Saint Thomas and Trudy Thomas

Friday, September 16th | 7:00 – 9:30 PM | Yurt

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ABUNDANT LAND is a documentary about a Hawaiian community on Moloka’i challenging the biotech industry’s use of the island to test genetically engineered seeds. Biotech corporations including Monsanto and Mycogen are depleting Moloka’i’s topsoil and fresh water while contributing to dust storms that spread pesticides into the surrounding communities and ocean. ABUNDANT LAND also offers a historical look into the political underpinnings of chemical intensive farming in Hawaii while portraying the rich legacy of traditional Hawaiian land management. The documentary follows dedicated residents as they seek transparency about the testing being done on their island and utilize permaculture—an ecological design system rooted in ancient Hawaiian farming practices—as an alternative to chemically dependent agriculture.

Presented By: Natasha Florentino

Saturday, September 17th | 8:00 – 10:15 PM | Bioregional Hub

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Formed in Venice Beach California, and immersed in one of the most culturally diverse communities in LA, arises the heart driven, and service orientated Hip Hop emissaries of peace, the Luminaries. From the underground parties in “Dogtown” to the biggest festival stages on the west coast, the Luminaries have now taken their message international and crowds everywhere sing along the anthem, “Peace Worldwide Starts From Inside!”

The band sees themselves as more than just musicians, but as catalysts for change. Each member having played the role of teacher, social worker, and activist, from working with homeless youth to defending the nation’s largest urban community garden, The South Central Farm. Luminaries embody the power of service, and do so of course through their inspirational live performances that leave audiences rejuvenated from the soul, down to the cellular level.

Luminaries bring an amazing live show that’s reminiscent of the golden era of Hip Hop, fused with a soulful, electro, live band, funk filled experience! As expressed by one of the “Grandfathers” of the genre, and early founder of modern rap, Afrika Bambaataa reminded us the power of “Peace, Unity, Love, and having Fun!” In the same vein, Luminaries create a soundscape of Hip Hop mantras inviting audiences to participate in the connectivity of one another while going ecstatic on the dance floor!

Luminaries are no strangers to a large audience. Over the past couple years they have played around the festival circuit with such grand concert events as Harmony Festival, Lightning in a Bottle, Beloved Festival, and Earthdance, sharing the stage with some of the hottest acts of the moment, including Michael Franti, K ‘Naan, The Glitch Mob, Matisyahu and Trevor Hall, as well as time-tested vets like KRS-ONE, STS9 and even India Arie.

In 2011, Luminaries were invited as global ambassadors by Sister Cities International to participate in a 10-day tour through the Middle East promoting peace. The crew visited youth centers, college students, and political dignitaries sharing their cultural philosophies, while preforming concerts in Israel, and Palestine including the widely attended Taybeh Music Festival. In 2012, Luminaries again graced the International stage by performing at the Bali Spirit Festival in Ubud, Indonesia, and continue to expand their horizons in the global performance market.

Currently, the band is in the production with their 2nd full-length album, while growing their fan base with nationwide bookings. While continually being recruited to perform, the Luminaries also produce their own events in Los Angeles under their production, and music label emblem Lu Fam Pro. Their largely successful weekly event “Luminous Movement” has brought new life to the Los Angeles nightlife scene, and label mate Clayton Joseph Scott’s album “More Love” marked the brands first major release outside their own projects. With vision of producing larger scale festival on the horizon, Luminaries have set their sights on becoming your household name for being the Hip Hop group that has something positive to share with the world. We invite you to join the movement and remember, we are all luminous beings having a human experience. www.luminariesmusic.com

Performance Time: Friday, Sept 16, 11:00 pm – 12:00pm

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Since forming in San Francisco’s own Boom Boom Room in the summer of 2013, Royal Jelly Jive has quickly ascended to become one of the Bay Area’s most anticipated acts. After releasing their debut album to a packed house at Slims in late 2014, they hit the road and and have been touring non-stop ever since. Playing hi-energy shows and festivals in cities and towns all across the West Coast, they have captivated the ears and hearts of almost all who hear them, intoxicating the masses with their unique and infectious music. They have been lucky enough to share stages with notable acts such as Michael Franti, Rebrirth Brass Band, The California Honeydrops as well as performing at this past year’s Outsidelands Music Festival, Soul’d Out Music Festival, and are on the bill for this years’ Bottlerock Music Festival, Joshua Tree Music Festival and Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival. With plans to release their new album “Stand Up” this summer and send it on a national tour, Royal Jelly Jive is off to making 2016 their biggest and best year yet!

2016 Convergence Performance: Friday, September 16th | 9:30 – 10:30 PM | Main Stage

Namorados Da Lua – translated from Portuguese as “Moon Lovers” – is the newest Brazilian band to hit the Bay Area. The band unites Brazilian and North American musicians with a common love of creating positive music with a message.

NDL showcases a beautiful blend of diverse styles, incorporation musical influences from reggae, jazz, pop, rock and funk as well as Brazilian samba, forró, and Axe carnival music.

Their music brings unstoppable driving rhythms, fiery lyrical grooves, harmonious instrumentation and original funk that makes them irresistibly danceable for any audience.

2016 Convergence Performance: Saturday, September 17th | 11:30 PM – 12:30 AM | Main Stage 

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Anthony Singing Bear is a stylistic singer-songwriter weaving wise words and personal stories into jazzy swing, world beat, reggae, hip hop and soul. His popularity is in large part due to his conscious well-thought lyrics, inventive songwriting, and soulful emotive voice. Bear’s prolific garden of songs seem developed and timeless like something out of the archives, and yet his ever evolving repertoire is very much here and now. It is a unique brand of music, in the style of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Brett Dennen, but really defying all genre classifications. 

2016 RED Talk Presentation: TBD

2016 Convergence Performance: Saturday, September 17th | 6:00 – 6:45 PM | Main Stage

2016 Convergence Panel: Artists In Action 

Maybe it’s her wild hair and funky clothes. Maybe it’s because she stands an unassuming 5 feet and sports those hazel eyes as if they were the mold. Perhaps it’s her message of love and peace through fascinating sounds and beguiling hooks. It could be her ability to do what a lot of hip-hop isn’t doing much of anymore:  real stories about real experiences from real people. Whatever it is, music lovers and freedom-seekers around the world have been changed by experiencing the resonating tunes and spoken word of YaNi. And that’s peace!

Iyana Ife Jendeyea Davis, also known as YaNi, is a graduate of Spelman College with an English degree. She has always been passionate about words and the transformation that can be found in writing them down and sharing them aloud. YaNi believes firmly in our power as storytellers and sets this example everyday of her life. YaNi has a deep commitment to the progress and transformation of youth. She does this work through teaching about the arts, spirituality, and by sharing her personal testimonies, while using a heavy emphasis on Peace and Community Building. YaNi is the founder of The Peace People’s movement and hopes to continue impacting the world with spirit-filled messages of freedom, love, liberation, communalism and peace! YaNi has been a featured speaker, preacher and teaching-artist around the United States, throughout Europe and in Hyderabad, India.

Gigging in schools and press-heavy community events alongside noted names in the literary and music world such as Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Pearl Cleage, and opening for headliners like Janelle Monae, J. Holiday, Jars of Clay and Dwele has aligned YaNi with industry leaders that continue to propel her purpose in this world. She has been a guest panelist and performer at some of the nation’s most noted venues and institutions, including Spelman College, Morehouse College, Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, St. Johns University, The GTU, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Kentucky State University and Barnard College.

YaNi currently resides in California, but calls Atlanta and Queens, NY home. She is a graduate student at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, pursuing a Masters of Divinity and a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction. YaNi is the essence of Peace Personified and continues to exude authentic qualities of what it means to be this generation’s griot and storyteller!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whoisyani/

Website: http://www.whoisyani.com/

2016 Convergence Panel: Artists In Action 

2016 Convergence Performance: Saturday, September 17th | 10:15 – 11:15 PM | Main Stage

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JazFuego/?pnref=lhc

Website: http://www.jasminefuego.com/

2017 Convergence Panel: Artists in Action

 Saturday, Oct 7 | 2:00 – 3:00 PM | Main Stage

2017 Convergence Performance: Saturday, Oct 7 | 10:15 – 11:00 PM | Main Stage

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Thrive East Bay is a purpose-driven community for people of all ages and backgrounds who are committed to transforming our lives, the places we live, and the world.

We are building a new type of community that is informed by modern science and ancient wisdom, infused with a profound sense of love and interconnection, and focused on social change. We welcome all people on the journey toward personal growth, shared learning, and collective action.

Thrive East Bay hosts regular Sunday events (currently on the 4th Sunday of each month from 4 – 6pm) and deep fellowship with others, focused on the following core principles:

Thriving Lives – We support each other in overcoming personal challenges and injustice, and creating lives filled with purpose, joy, and creative expression.

Love in Action – We let love guide us toward compassion, gratitude, empathy, and community among diverse groups of people.

Shared Learning & Practice – We seek to expand our critical awareness and evidenced-based understanding of the world, and to grow together through shared inquiry and transformative practices.

Systemic Change – We unite to build equitable systems where we can flourish as individuals, as communities, and as a planet.

Please join us!

2017 Convergence Performance: Sunday, Oct 8 | 12:30 – 1:30 PM | Main Stage

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As a producer he has delved into the world of creative gatherings by hosting and developing the dance scene with numerous weekly and monthly events such as: The Groove Garden, Mantra Lounge, Alchemy & Floorplay and annual festivals such as: Earthdance, SolFest, Harmony Festival, Techno Tribal, Miambient, Ali Akbar College of Music Festival and Yoga Journal’s Trance Dance and Harbin’s Unconditional Dance Festival.

2017 Convergence Performance: Thur, Oct 6 | 11:00 – 12:00 AM | Main Stage

& Sun, Oct 8 | 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM | Main Stage

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Wild Man is a geographer, dancer, and dj. He works across all parts of his craft to realize more harmonious relations between sound, bodies, and space in an urban setting.  One of his favorite media is dance music–from hip-hop and r&b to funk and house–and is grateful to the sonic elders and innovators of soul, past and present.  He lives and works in Oakland, CA.

2017 Convergence Performance: Saturday, Oct 7, | 11:45 PM – 12:30 AM | Main Stage

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2018 Pre-Convergence Workshop: Music as Medicine Day Long Intensive

Thurs, Sept 20| 10:00am – 5:00pm

2017 Convergence Performance: Saturday, Oct 7th | 9:30 – 10:30 PM | Main Stage

2017 Convergence Panel: Artists in Action

2016 Convergence Panel: Artists in Action

2016 Convergence Performance: Saturday, September 17th | 9:30 – 10:00 PM | Main Stage

2015 Convergence Workshop: Social Permaculture & Community Organizing

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Marienthal’s career started in Bay Area stage theater work, performing in Missing Persons, The Cryptogram, Hecuba, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Every 17 Minutes the Crowd Goes Crazy, and The Life of Galileo.

Marienthal is known for the role of Robin (Tim Drake) in the Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman animated film, and in an episode of Static Shock. He replaced the previous voice actor, Mathew Valencia, because in these appearances, Robin was supposed to sound older than he had on the animated series. He played the title role of “Tucker Pierce” in the Tucker television series. He is also the voice of Hogarth Hughes in the 1999 film The Iron Giant and plays Steve Stifler‘s younger brother in the 1999 film American Pie and its 2001 sequel, American Pie 2. His last film role to date was in the teenage-oriented comedy, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), opposite Lindsay Lohan, as Sam. After a brief hiatus, Marienthal returned to television by making a cameo appearance on a 2009 episode of the television sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, but the following year, Marienthal again retired from acting.

In addition to acting, Marienthal has written and performed his own work as a poet, dancer, and playwright.

Marienthal graduated from the private East Bay French-American School in Berkeley,^[1][4] where all students learn to speak French and attend classes in two languages, and from Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) in 2004. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2008, with a double major in comparative literature and international development studies. He also holds a master’s degree in development studies from Brown. He is currently a doctoral candidate in geography at the University of California, Berkeley.

2016 Convergence Performance: Friday September 16th | 10:30 – 10:45 PM | Main Stage

Jada Imani and Maleik Dion, a brother/sister team, are young artists and visionaries, who host and perform at community empowerment events every month.

2016 Convergence Performance: Saturday September 17th | 12:30 – 1:00 PM | Main Stage