Los Angeles County Anti-Hate Songfest Set for April 25

Press release
Source: Tellem (for LA Music Academy)

Fifty high-energy, creative, aspiring teenage musicians, poets, rappers and songwriters will come together this Saturday to combat hatred and the recent rise in hate crimes -- with their own songs. In a groundbreaking, creative new approach designed to alleviate racial tension and reduce the racialized gang violence that continues to plague Southern California, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ zerohour: No Haters Here! youth initiative, will hold their first day-long songwriters’ workshop at the Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena this Saturday, April 25, 2009. The media are invited to attend.

“After several months of a countywide competition and six zerohour seminars across all the County’s districts for hundreds of high-school-age youth,” says Robin Toma, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, “these 50 incredibly-talented young people are ready to write the Project: One soundtrack for a new, hate-free generation.”

Project: One: One Love, One Mic, One Song, the County’s search for musically talented teens, invited participants to attend a free songwriters’ workshop and Human Relations Commission zerohour: No Haters Here! training, giving them the chance to write and perform songs that speak out against prejudice and hatred, that could lead to a professional recording opportunity, and that will inspire positive change within the community.

After hundreds of youth took the training sessions and workshops earlier this year, fifty applicants were chosen to work with state-of-the-art recording equipment and mentorship by award winning, hit-making producers and songwriters this coming Saturday. The professionals include Oneness founder KC Porter, triple-GRAMMY award-winning producer of Ricky Martin, Selena and Carlos Santana; Harold Lilly, Jr., GRAMMY award-winning songwriter for Alicia Keyes, Jamie Foxx, Luther Vandross, Janet Jackson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia; and the Avila Brothers, Bobby and IZ, producers of Usher, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton. Featured Speaker will be Jon Platt, the executive vice president/head of Urban, Creative, West Coast, for EMI Music Publishing and one of the most influential urban music publishers in the world. Big Jon has produced Jay-Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, Usher, Pharrell Williams (Neptunes), Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, and many others.

Project: One is a component of the County Human Relations Commission’s overall campaign to reduce the record number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County, which rose 28% last year, to 763, the highest number in the past five years, according to the Commission’s annual report. Ten percent of those hate crimes occurred in schools, and nearly 1 in 3 high school students have reported being harassed because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey.

The Songwriter’s Workshop will take place at the Los Angeles Music Academy, 370 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, 2009. Media are welcome to cover any portion of the day’s activities, but may want to focus on the opening session, which will feature an inspirational talk by Big Jon Platt and an all-participants drum circle to get the creative energy flowing among the participants. County officials and music industry mentors will be available for interviews, and interviews with the youth attendees can be arranged with the permission of a parent or guardian on site.

For more information go to the zerohour website (www.zerohour.com); or visit the Project: One MySpace page (www.myspace.com/projectonela); or add zerohour Los Angeles as a friend on Facebook.

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations has been in existence for over 60 years working to improve the way different groups of people get along in L.A. County. As one of the oldest and largest human relations agencies of its kind in the United States, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations serves one of the largest and most diverse populations in the country in addressing the human relations needs through its commitment to fostering harmonious and equitable inter-group relations; empowering communities and institutions; and promoting an informed and inclusive multicultural society. The Commission works to develop programs that proactively address racism, homophobia, religious prejudice, linguistic bias, anti-immigrant sentiment, and other divisive attitudes that can lead to inter-cultural tension, hate crimes and related violence.

LA Music Academy in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA, offers an intimate and friendly, yet serious and rigorous contemporary music education to male and female students 18 and over through its vocal, drum, bass and guitar programs. Founded in 1996, the Academy is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music and has provided a solid musical foundation for more than 1,000 international and domestic students. LA Music Academy’s 35 instructors immerse students in practical courses. The Academy offers a significant number of real world playing situations with professional musicians, not just peers, setting the school apart from other prestigious music institutions.

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