A.A.C. End of the Year Review (2011 Edition)

SHUT IT DOWN!!!

It’s the final few days of December, and the end of the year signifies a time for family, friends, and yields an opportunity to examine where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going.

This past year, A.A.C. has continued to build upon its list of accomplishments and further its mission to empower those with a passion for the Arts and Social Justice. We’ve also noticed that everyone seems post a list of remarkable accomplishments from the past year, and A.A.C. would like to share a few of ours.

7. Bad Mamma Jamma Slam

A.A.C. has hosted a series of Poetry Jamz at Blackbird Coffee for the past 3 years. This year we added a little extra spice with the Bad Mamma Jam Slam, A.A.C’s first legit Poetry Slam. It was legit, because it was the first time we used National Slam Rules with a few modifications. The B.L.A.C.K. Poets from Macon, GA. graced the stage, as well as GCSU Poets, April Bivins, Jordan Budnick, and Sal Taluto. This crew along with A.A.C.'s finest Natalie Sharp and Jerome German delivered an amazing evening of Voice and Art to A.A.C./Blackbird’s audience.

The Bad Mamma Jamma Slam also marked the first evening of Haiku Slam for Milledgeville GA., as Tommy Hughey and Deandre Beck lit the crowd with a few clever and witty scribbles from their inner comedic psyches. The evening culminated with the crowning of Natalie Sharp as the champion of the Bad Mamma Jamma Slam, Jerome German earned 2^nd place and, Virge Owens placed third. A.A.C. will definitely bring this Bad Mamma Jamma back to Milledgeville in 2012.

6. The Shutdown Magazine Debuts

The Shutdown Magazine is the first in a series of Magz that A.A.C. will publish annually. The goal of the magazine is to tell the story of writers, artists, musicians, and other individuals who are making strides for social justice in small communities and may not see coverage from large news networks or in national print media. A.A.C. has never been interested in waiting for someone else to tell the our story movement, so we’re always on the lookout for your stories of triumph, as we move art to the center of the movement to create a better world.

5. A.A.C. Youth Poetry Collectives

This past fall, A.A.C. has created two brand, spanking, new Youth Poetry Collectives (YPCs) in Middle, Ga. For folks who are from rural communities, they know opportunities with the arts are sometimes few and far in between, but with advocates who aim to provide opportunities and exposure to ground-breaking movements like the Slam Poetry Movement in local high schools, we grow ever closer to filling the gaps in education and connecting our youth to positive life changing programs that cultivate stronger readers, speakers, and thinkers.

4. A.A.C. Orgz

This program has been a long time in the making, but finally it’s off the ground and coming to a community near you. A.A.C. has sought the ideal way to empower others to create solution based programming through the arts in their communities, and A.A.C. Orgz is the vehicle that gives any grass-roots, arts organizer effective strategies to implement any arts based program in their community. With our new A.A.C. Orgz Program, we will lay the framework and help support you on your journey to creating a positive social impact in your community.

3. The D.N.S.T.P. (Do Not Stop the Progress) A.A.C. Org

Our first Affiliate Org is up and running at Georgia College and State University. The founding members, Deandre Beck, Tommy Hughey, Natalie Sharp, and Simone Williams have made significant strides in continuing the A.A.C. tradition at Georgia College. As our very first Org, they’ve met a significant challenge and A.A.C. is proud to have this young and energetic team furthering the mission to educate, inspire, and entertain.

2. A.A.C. Shutdown.org goes live!

Well… what can we say? After a year in the making, we finally got a website. You can check it out at right HERE!

1. YOU!

It’s been an amazing year, for A.A.C., and we’d like to hear your stories about social uplift through the Arts. Tell us a little about your story in the comment section below. We’re always on the lookout for artist using their talents to better the world.

P.SSSST! We like to write articles about other people using art for social justice. Post your story and if it sounds compelling, more than likely, we'll contact you for an interview. We're revamping our blog and the addition of your stories will make things infinitely more interesting. Have a stellar New Year and keep SHUTTIN' IT DOWN!

GoodSearch for A.A.C.

Art as an Agent for Change recently entered a partnership with GoodSearch.com. Goodsearch is a Yahoo powered search engine that provides money saving coupons to GoodSearch users and donates half of its advertising revenue, to the charitable organization of your choice.

Just download the GoodSearch – Art as an Agent for Change toolbar HERE.

Each time you search the web with GoodSearch's Yahoo-powered search engine, about a penny will go to the charity you designate.

Also, every time you shop online at 2,000 participating stores including Target, Apple, Staples, Expedia, etc., a percentage of your purchase will be donated for free! The site also has thousands of money-saving coupons!

GoodSearch and GoodShop on ABC News

Now, you can help A.A.C. by logging onto the web and searching for your favorite sites.

There are also a few added perks for GoodSearching the net. When you download the GoodSearch Toolbar you also have the option to Goodshop.

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Target, Gap, Best Buy, Macy's and Amazon have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.

We’ll admit, we were looking for the “catch” when we began to research becoming a GoodSearch charity. We discovered that GoodSearch and GoodShop are free services and there are no gimmicks.

You can start GoodSearching for A.A.C. by visiting this LINK and downloading the GoodSearch toolbar. It works just like all other toolbars, except this time, you get great discounts at your favorite retailers and you can help charitable organizations like, Art as an Agent for Change.

Happy Searching!

P.S. Save the Date. A.A.C. GoodShop Weekend is August 5-7.

A.A.C. Visits the Living Walls Carnival

A.A.C. is always on the lookout for artists seeking to deepen the impact that art provides for our world. This past weekend A.A.C Founder/Director Paul Ayo had the opportunity to meet-up with a group of Atlanta artists from Dodekapus and Living Walls. The meeting took place at a Carnival that served as a benefit for the upcoming Living Walls Conference on Street Art and Urbanism.

We had the pleasure of speaking to Monica Campana, Coordinator of Atlanta’s Living Walls Conference. We also had the chance to speak with a founding member of Dodekapus, Melanka Joy. You can check out their vid below.

(Photo: Monica Campana, Living Walls Organizer)

Living Walls brings artists from all over the world to Atlanta to create Street Art and host discussions on the impact of public art and how it’s reshaping urban space. This year’s Living Walls Conference is scheduled to take place August 12-14 in Atlanta, Ga. You can check out the Living Walls website HERE if you’d like to learn more about the conference.

It was awesome to see two arts organizations collaborating to build a strong community centered effort in Atlanta, GA. Emily Fisher, Living Walls and Dodekapus supporter said, “Living Walls highlights arts in the city, building more respect for street art.” She also mentioned, “Dodekapus has been extra supportive… without them, it [Living Walls] wouldn’t happen.”

(Photo: Melanka Joy, Founding Member Dodekapus and Paul Ayo, Exec Director A.A.C.)

In addition to posing in a really cool wig, I also had the opportunity to bump into some really cool people. I’ll let them tell you a little about themselves and the Carnival.

Collaboration is one of the pillars of A.A.C. and we couldn’t resist the urge to agree to volunteer for the Living Walls Conference this August 12-14. ATL, get ready for a Shutdown!

Grand Openinig: aacshutdown.org

A.A.C. proudly presents AACshutown.org. This brand new website has everything you’ll need to stay up to date on A.A.C., and most importantly, get involved in the Art as an Agent for Change movement.

Our awesome website was designed by the great folks at the Goebel Media Group. Nick and Lauren Goebel are a husband and wife team that take your website ideas and create great-looking, professionally-made, websites that will meet the needs of any organization. You can check out more of their designs HERE.

AACshutdown.org will feature stories from A.A.C. Members and other artists using their artistic passion to reshape the world. You can also find out how to bring A.A.C. to your community with our new A.A.C. Orgz program. The program aims to build a network of artists and activists who embody the mission of A.A.C. and provide services to communities without an A.A.C. Affiliate Organization. You can find out how to get involved HERE. You can also find out the secret to the Shutdown HERE!

We have a firm belief that lasting human connections are the pathway to a better world. With our collective voices, we'll reshape the world with art and action that truly make a difference.

Leave a comment below, we'd love to hear from you.

Your Passion Linked to Purpose: A Call for Submissions

Art as an Agent for Change is shuttin' it down with another edition of the Shutdown Magazine. In order to make this issue a success, we need your photos, still images of your visual art, poetry, short stories, and testimonies about your efforts to make a difference using your artistic passion.

Submit your unpublished work to us at aacshutdown@gmail.com. The submission deadline is May 31, 2011.

We'll update you when we receive your work and let you know if you made it into the mag.


The Shutdown is A.A.C.'s arts and activism magazine that exists to:
1. Encourage adolescent and adult literacy.
2. Connect our contributors to the literary wealth of the world.
3. Advocate social uplift through education and the arts.

Your contribution to the magazine will help us tell the story of the collective movement to reshape the world through our artistic collaboration and connections.

You can check out our first issue here: Shutdown Magazine Spring 2011
Like our Facebook page here: Shut it Down!
Subscribe or leave a comment below!

4th Annual Poetic Notions Poetry Fest

In an effort to provide more cutting edge engagement through the arts, Art as an Agent for Change hosts the 4th Annual Poetic Notions Poetry Festival, which takes place at 8pm April 9th at the Georgia College Blackbox Theater.

Slam Poetry, Performance Poetry or Spoken Word, as it’s called by many, is an edgy art form inspired by the age old traditions of story-telling and oral history. Poetry has experienced revolutionary changes throughout history and due to a recent shift in the way poetry is consumed; books are no longer the only way poetry reaches the masses. Poets can now be viewed performing their pieces out-loud and in person via television, social networking sites, slam poetry contests, and open-mics. As a result, the art of poetry is gaining new popularity amongst the public and Art as an Agent for Change offers its annual Poetic Notions Poetry Festival to bring the dynamic styling’s of spoken word to Milledgeville, Ga.

This year’s event features the Java Monkey Slam Team from Atlanta, GA.,. Java Monkey is currently ranked in 5th in the nation in Slam and they will take center stage at this year’s poetry festival. The event will be hosted by one of Macon’s finest poets and Mercer University Grad Student Mike Scott. The line-up is also filled with the phenomenally talented student poets of Georgia College and musicians from Blackbird Coffee’s Acoustic Night. The event is sponsored by the Georgia College Student Government Association and the GCSU M.A.L.E. Connection. Paul Grigsby, the Founder and Director of Art as an Agent for Change mentioned, “I am pleased to have these wonderful sponsors and talented artists on board for the show. Their support brought the show together, and we are looking to make this one of the most memorable Poetic Notions Poetry Festivals on record.”

Poetic Notions was started when Grigsby saw that Milledgeville lacked a large poetry festival during the month of April, which is National Poetry Month. Grigsby along with several other Georgia College students hosted the inaugural event in 2008 and has since developed the program into a statewide festival that brings in some of Georgia’s most talented slam and performance poets.

Art as an Agent for Change is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt organization that was found in 2006 by three college students that wanted to provide entertainment and arts education that truly educated, inspired, and entertained. Art as an Agent for Change has since adapted a mission that promotes artistic collaboration, community engagement, and working towards social change through arts education.

The Shutdown Magazine: Spring 2011

Art as an Agent for Change proudly presents the Shutdown Magazine. The Shutdown is A.A.C.'s literary, arts, and activism magazine that exists to encourage adolescent and adult literacy, connect our contributor's community to the literary wealth of the world, and promote social uplift in our community and communities abroad.

Our first edition features an eye-opening interview with Alysia Harris. She has been featured on HBO's hit documentary BNV. We also feature poetry from Belizean Poet Jose V. Guerra and poetry from the youth of Milledgeville, Ga. and college students from Georgia College and State University.

There are also a few articles that showcase the profound effect of connecting activism and the arts to build beneficial outcomes in the world. This edition of The Shutdown is guaranteed to be a provocative read. It will stimulate the parts of your brain that influence inspiration and the drive to make a difference. Check it out and Shut it DOWN!

Open publication - Free publishing - More aac

We've Got the Peace! We've Got the Justice!

January 15, 2011, A.A.C. took to the streets of downtown Augusta to participate in the Augusta chapter of the NAACP MLK Parade. This year’s theme was “Stop the Killing.” Recently, there have been a slew of tragic murders in Augusta, and the local chapter of the NAACP thought it was wise to use this parade to promote the message of peace in their community.

A.A.C.'s trip to Augusta was coordinated by the “Amazing” Ayman Fadel of the CSRA Peace Alliance. During our trip we ran into David Matos and Matt Smith who helped out with the parade activities. The parade was filled with bands from local high schools, groups of dancers, churches, car clubs, and local businesses who joined us to share in the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most of the parade led us down two-lane streets, and as we passed the spectators we handed out boxes of raisins attached to small handbills with the message “Raisin’ our voices for peace and justice!”

As we marched we chanted, “We got that PEACE! (Pause) We got that JUSTICE!" Lots of spectators joined in, and the call for peace and justice was as tangible as the chilly winter air. At one point on the parade route, we even got a few of the sheriff’s deputies involved in the chant, which was a huge triumph for the day considering the stoic image the law enforcement officers were trying to maintain.

Our mission for the day was spreading the message of peace and justice and reinvigorating our world with the drive and inspiration to create the better world that Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about and worked to create. We are the peace, we are the justice, we are the hands and hearts that will make a difference.

A.A.C. Poetry Jamz @ Blackbird Coffee Jan. 2011

A.A.C. loves giving new artist the spotlight and stage-time to take our audiences to new levels of thought, laughter, and love. This January, Cabrik Harrison, GCSU student and Poetry Jamz enthusiast will take the Blackbird Coffee stage Wed. Jan 19th @ 8:30pm to deliver soulful flavors unlike any we've seen in Milledgeville.



Cabrik Harrison is a Senior Marketing Major at Georgia College and State University from Moultrie Georgia. Cabrik Always enjoyed writing, but did not fully experiment with poetry until about 8th grade. Poetry became Cabrik’s guide throughout her teenage years and began with a few words in a typical teenagers journal . Cabrik later learned that poetry was not that simple, in fact it could be quite complex, and that sometimes the best poetry is the most complex. After Meeting with some students involved in A.A.C. at GCSU her freshman year, Cabrik decided to write more and try to get into different areas of spoken word. Poetry became a release not only for herself but others , her way to express the feelings of, and give hope to a community of people that she grew up around and interacted with from home and in college, particularly women. Even though to this day she still doesn’t consider herself a “poet”, she has learned that you don’t make yourself a poet, sometimes you just are , and that’s not a bad thing… that is a blessing.


Start the year off right with a healthy dose of good vibes and good people at A.A.C.'s Poetry Jamz @ Blackbird Coffee. Show date/time: Wednesday Jan 19, 8:30 p.m. Blackbird Coffee.
Free Admission
Seating is limited

A Big THANK YOU!!!

Recently, A.A.C. applied for a Pepsi Refresh Grant through Pepsi, Co.’s Pepsi Refresh Project. That was a lot of Pepsi... The 31 day journey was filled with excitement as we met new people and garnered support for our project. During our campaign we learned about a lot of stipulations regarding passing out literature in public places and dealt with a few intimidating authority figures, but best of all we established new connections with our community.

Throughout the campaign, we had fun crafting videos (like these) and met lots of folks pursuing their daily goals. The most profound portion of our journey involved sharing info about the programs we’ll be implementing in Milledgeville in the coming year. And just to let you know, we’ll still be JUMPSTARTING our programs despite the voting results.

In closing, we’d like to thank you for support, time, and text messages during the campaign. You made everything worth it. Thanks! And be on the lookout for our upcoming projects in 2011.

Yours Always,

A.A.C.