2014 Power of Words Conference

The 2014 Transformative Language Arts Network is presenting their 11^th Annual Power of Words Conference this September. This promises to be an exciting conference! I am on the site committee and want to share the conference information with you:

See http://www.tlanetwork.org/conference/3742-2/ for more information.

The conference is September 19-21, 2014 at Lake Doniphan Retreat Center in Kansas City, MO. The title of the conference is Power of Words Conference: Transformation, Liberation & Celebration Through the Spoken, Written and Sung Word.

There will be workshops, performances, talking circles, celebration and more, featuring writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, community leaders, activists, educators, and health professionals. The conference, founded in 2003, features workshops in four tracks: narrative medicine, social change, right livelihood (and making a living through the arts), and engaged spirituality, with 30 presenters from across the country.

Register here today: registration (rates go up Aug. 15). 

Visit our Tumblr page for videos, photos, links, news and more!

Scholarship and work-study information here.

Keynoters are:

Kevin Willmott, award-winning filmmaker, writer and director who award-winning films include C.S.A.: Confederate States of America, Planet Negro, The Only Good Indian and Bunker Hill. His films investigate our living history with depth, originality and humor.

Kelley Hunt, international touring artist and singer-songwriter with five critically-acclaimed CDs. Her powerful voice, piano and guitar playing, coupled with songwriting that will leave you breathless have made her one of the shining voices in rhythm and blues, Americana, roots, gospel and folk music.

Scott Cairns, poet, and writer, recent books are Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected and the memoir Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven — A Pilgrimage. Professor at the University of Missouri and a Guggenheim Fellow, Cairns' writing has appeared in Poetry, Paris Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Spirituality and Health and The Best American Spiritual Writing.

Doug Lipman, storyteller, coach, mentor and author. One of the foremost authorities on storytelling coaching, Doug has performed around the world since the 1970s, including at the Smithsonian, National Storytelling Festival and on public radio. A generous expert on right livelihood through the arts, Doug will share his wisdom as well as one of his most powerful stories.

We are proud to feature two spectacular artists-in-residence will be featured: 

Stephen Locke is a renowned storm and tornado photographer.

Jose Faus is a multi-media artist and painter, muralist, poet and writer, and president of The Writers Place. Both Stephen and Jose will be displaying their art and giving artist talks during the conference.

I hope you join us!