Community Culture Cypher

press release: Community members are invited to participate in two (2) events hosted by the POWER Collective, both to take place on Saturday,  March 30, 2019, as follow:

Political Education Cypher, on the topic of Policing, Surveillance, and Anti-Blackness, from 10 am to 3 p.m, at the UW South Madison Partnership Space, 2312 South Park Street, sliding scale registration fee ($5 to $25), lunch provided. Keynote will be delivered by organizer M. Adams of Freedom, Inc.

Community Cultural Cypher, from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., at Cargo Coffee, 750 East Washington. The POWER Collective annual Culture Cypher activates a generative creative, intellectual, and political cultural space that centers local talent. This includes featuring performers, artists, artisans, and organizers leading radical local campaigns. The event is also POWER’s yearly fundraiser as a means to not be dependent on external funding and create purposeful revenue in support of radical community campaigns and organizations.

DJ Umi will be spinning tunes throughout the night, with performances by Ruby Bafu, LaShawn Washington, and the Uprise Poetry Collective.

Community Spotlights featuring: Freedom Inc, Goodman Community Center, and Harambee Village: Pregnancy, Birth, and Breastfeeding Care.

Local Vendors featuring: CocoaBean Skin Care, Insert Apparel, and works by Anupama Bhattacharya

The POWER Collective (People.Of.Wisdom.Eternally.Revolutionizing) is a collective of UW graduate students and their partners who engage in the process of education for liberation, through campus- and community-based efforts.

POWER’s Cyphers are based on the origins of the word “cypher”, which has multiple origins, including “de-cipher- to “reveal the meaning of.” Cypher also has roots in the language of hip-hop, according to the urban dictionary a cypher is a) “anything cyclical”, b) “to freestyle but not in battle terms”, c) “the process of tapping into your subconscious. A state of mind where thoughts and actions flow from your mind rather than being instrumented.” The P.O.W.E.R. Collective employs the term to mean: a meeting space where all participants are invited to be intellectual word-play gurus who engage ideas, strategies, and visions openly through horizontal exchange and intellectual freestyle. The POWER Collective annual Culture Cypher activates a generative creative, intellectual, and political cultural space that centers local talent. This includes featuring performers, artists, artisans, and organizers leading radical local campaigns. The event is also POWER’s yearly fundraiser as a means to not be dependent on external funding and create purposeful revenue in support of radical community campaigns and organizations.