International Day of Peace Celebrated in Nashville with Musical Concert

Tennessee United for Human Rights held a Peace Day Concert on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace with many artists and community leaders joining forces to create the event. It was spearheaded by Emmy Award-winning songwriter, Melanie, who recently signed on as President of the Tennessee United for Human Rights chapter.

Peace Day was a half-day festival at the Pavilion East in East Nashville with children’s activities, music and volunteers asking for signatures on a petition to make human rights education mandatory in Tennessee. In total, 185 signatures were garnered that day.

The show began with Nashville-based Americana singer/songwriter Jon Statham and his band. He was followed by Emmy-nominated songwriter Bianca Moon with guitarist Kent Wells.  Joseph Bell of the Who’s Bad Michael Jackson Tribute Tour performed next.  Dove Award nominee and inspirational pop/R&B artist T-Ran Gilbert delivered a powerful show and invited rap artist Canteen to the stage for a surprise performance.

In the evening, there was an all-denominational prayer for peace which involved representatives of several faiths including Sikhism, Hinduism, Scientology, Christianity, and the Nation of Islam. Internationally revered fashion designer Manuel Cuevas attended the event and participated on stage in the prayer for peace.

Melanie concluded the show. Her passion for peace was exemplified as she reminisced about the day she performed at the original Woodstock festival in 1969. She was accompanied by her son and virtuoso Beau Jarred Schekeryk. RoyEl Wooten from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, performed on percussion.  Celebrity accordion player Kristian Rusbjerg from Denmark came to the stage for two songs as a guest performer and Kevin Riley performed on bass.

During her performance, Melanie brought a poster-size version of the petition for human rights on stage, saying, ”I support a movement to make human rights education mandatory in Tennessee,” then signed the petition and asked everyone in the audience to join her.

While she performed her hit song “Lay Down Candles in the Rain,” candles were lit and distributed to the audience as a symbol of a wish for peace.

More than 250 people participated in the celebration concert on Peace Day and plans have already begun for Peace Day 2016. If you would like tickets to Melanie's Peace Day concert 2016, please go to peacedayconcert.org. For more information about United for Human Rights, go to www.humanrights.com.

Artlightenment Festival Announces Pre-Show Seminar for Artists

The Artlightenment festival is an annual tradition in Music City which combines all modern forms of the arts into one explosive event in November. 2015 will see the seventh year of the festival which continues to grow and change while inviting even greater participation from the area. The 2015 theme is Music City Mystique: Behind the Art.

The festival takes place beginning on November 7^th through the awards ceremony and fashion show on November 14^th.  The film festival will be Nov 12-14^th, and the complete schedule can be seen at artlightenment.com.

Prior to the festival, organizers have announced a special seminar by successful artist Owen York on “How to Sell Your Art.” York has said, “My dream is to bring art back from the dead, by bringing the artist back to life.”

According to his website, owenyork.com, he has been involved in the arts “literally since Day 1.” As a child, he was recognized for his visual arts abilities, but was also a skilled writer & musician, playing the piano & saxophone and winning contests for young authors. At a young age, he was invited into a special program for the gifted, limited to a handful of those who excelled in the arts. He has also worked as an actor for TV, commercial, film & radio for stations including The History Channel, HSN and The Weather Channel.  Despite these adventures in the various arts, York is a fine artist at heart.

York’s artistic style speaks for itself. His originals, commissions and portraitures have sold nationwide and internationally. He specializes in acrylics & watercolors and his influences include Impressionism, Rock & Roll and commercial Illustration. He has a degree in Illustration from the American Academy of Art in Chicago.

The Artlightenment festival is all about uplifting artists and York’s seminar, although happening pre-show, ties right into this. According to the Artlightenment website, the festival was created from one artist’s dream to help artists by giving them a festival dedicated to no other cause than the art itself. “This is a festival about them, the artists, and what they have to say,” says Robyn Morshead who founded Artlightenment and continues to organize the show each year.

The Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Nashville is the festival host each year, in accordance with Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s vision to help all artists. All are invited and more information can be found online at artlightenment.com. 

Drug-Free South Carries the Red Ribbon Forward

To protect youth from the disastrous effects of drugs, the Drug-Free South team is bringing the truth directly to students and the community in honor of Red Ribbon Week.

“Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country,” according to imdrugfree.com, and it occurs during the last week of October each year. This is the best time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse.

The Red Ribbon Campaign was started to commemorate DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who died in the line of duty in 1985. This began the continuing tradition of displaying red ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs. The mission of the campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a Drug-Free America, according to redribbon.org.

Drug-Free South has participated in the campaign since 2009 by distributing copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets, which help young people understand what drugs are and how they affect the user, visiting school classrooms to deliver a seminar to students utilizing the documentary The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories, and getting the Drug-Free World public service announcements played on television.

This year Drug-Free South volunteers plan to commemorate Red Ribbon Week through community events. “We will participate in various community events to distribute copies of the booklet, and we are hosting an open house event to shed light on the subject,” says Brian Fesler, regional coordinator for the Drug-Free South.

Drug-Free South has provided seminars to students in over thirty counties in Tennessee. One school teacher expressed his gratitude by writing a letter to the volunteers.  He noted the program “is a highly informative, mind-grasping look at the dangers and horrible realities that addiction creates.”

Drug-Free South is the Tennessee chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, an international non-profit organization. Its materials demonstrate the dangers of drugs through factual information and interviews with former addicts giving personal perspectives on each of the substances covered.  For more information, visit drugfreesouth.org.

Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day To Take Place at John Seigenthaler Center

Human Rights Day is a time for activists to come together to celebrate milestones and award heroes who have championed human rights. The gathering which takes place in Nashville, Tennessee, is always one which strives to educate the broader community on the importance of knowing one’s human rights as well as bringing together those who work on these issues.

The planning committee is chaired by Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the Nashville Church of Scientology. Fesler says, “There’s a core group of citizens who know the value of human rights and work on it daily. Our goal is to bring those people together, support their commitment, so in the end we can reach everyone else.”

The gathering celebrates the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations on Dec 10, originally signed in 1948. This year, the event will take place at the First Amendment Center in the John Seigenthaler Center.

“We are excited and proud to be going back to the John Seigenthaler Center,” says Fesler, “Mr. Seigenthaler stood for everything we are working to promote, so this makes it the perfect place to host Human Rights Day.”

The celebration centers around the Human Rights awards.  Last year, awardees in the category for Lifetime Achievement were Father Joseph Breen, formerly of St. Edward Church who is known widely for his work to strike down the 2009 “English Only” proposition in Nashville; and First Baptist Church Capitol Hill which has long served as a beacon for the civil rights movement.

Rising Advocate awards were given to individuals who are relatively new to the field of human rights and show great promise for the future.  They went to Eben Cathey with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Daynise Joseph, formerly with Organized Neighbors of Edgehill. Outstanding Service awards were bestowed upon Yuri Cunza with the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Avi Poster who has championed immigrant rights, among others, for years.

To learn more about the event or how to get involved, visit www.nashvillehumanrights.org. 

Concert for Peace Organized by Tennessee United for Human Rights is ‘Blow Away’

Tennessee United for Human Rights recently celebrated the International Day of Peace with a concert in East Nashville. Held at the Pavilion East on Fatherland Street, the show featured several musicians and singer/songwriters performing songs of love, peace and unity.

“‘Partnerships for Peace-Dignity for All’ is the UN theme this year, and that’s what this concert is all about--human relations and individual dignity,” said Brian Fesler, coordinator of Tennessee United for Human Rights.  

Concert attendees enjoyed Americana singer/songwriter Jon Statham, while children did art projects, got their faces painted and played in a bouncy house. Veterans for Peace alongside Tennessee United for Human Rights volunteers passed out information and had concert attendees sign petitions to government asking for the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following Statham was Joseph Bell, the front man of the critically acclaimed “Who’s Bad” Michael Jackson Tribute Tour, and Bianca Moon, an Emmy-nominated songwriter, recognized for her song “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

Dove Award Nominee and Gospel Pop Artist T-Ran Gilbert performed original songs including his hits “Need You Now,” and “Breathe.” Then religious leaders took the stage for a World Prayer for Peace.

Closing out the night, American songwriting icon Melanie performed to tumultuous applause and a captivated audience. Melanie is best known for her hit songs “Brand New Key” and “What Have they Done to My Song, Ma?” She was also an original performer at Woodstock and an ambassador for the United Nations in the 1970s.  At the end of the night, everyone was led by Melanie to light a candle for peace.

For more information, visit TennesseeHumanRights.org.

Community Comes Together in the Name of Peace at Nashville Church of Scientology

The Nashville Church of Scientology joined Churches of Scientology on six continents and hundreds of like-minded groups around the world in promoting International Day of Peace and its message, “Partnership for Peace—Dignity for All.”

The Nashville Church of Scientology hosted an International Day of Peace Open House and Forum September 21, a day set aside by the United Nations for “strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.”

Rev. Brian Fesler, senior pastor of the Nashville Church, welcomed everyone, “Thank you all for coming--just by your presence at this event, you are showing a deep commitment to human rights and peace.”

The theme of this year’s International Day of Peace is “Partnerships for Peace—Dignity for All,” and the Church was honored to host a forum on human trafficking in partnership with community, civic and religious leaders.

The forum was titled “Exposing the Hidden World of Human Trafficking” and brought together a panel of local and international human rights advocates who fight this problem on a daily basis.

Panel members included Clemmie Greenlee, Founder of the Nashville Peacemakers who spoke to the many victims of human trafficking; Melody Fowler-Green, Director of the Metro Human Relations Commission who spoke to slave labor in the 21st century; Assistant District Attorney Tammy Meade spoke to the work of the DA’s office; Allasone Lita G., CEO and Founder of All Is One spoke about hope for a new generation; and Gabrielle Thompson, Executive Director of Free for Life International spoke about how to restore lives across the globe.

Rev. Fesler presented an overview of the Church-supported United for Human Rights initiative. He played the public service announcement for Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 4, “No Slavery,” and article 1, “We are all born free and equal,” and described the United for Human Rights and Youth for Human Rights education curricula and the results Church volunteers have achieved through making these materials broadly available. “Working together, we can make a difference,” said Fesler.

Scientologists on five continents engage in collaborative efforts with government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to bring about broad-scale awareness and implementation of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s premier human rights document. To learn more, visit www.Scientology.org/humanrights.

United for Human Rights Holds Concert for Peace

“How important are human rights? Long before the phrase “human rights” came into existence, men and women fought and died for basic human freedoms,” according to humanrights.com. Human rights advocates agree that, sixty years after its issue, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. So it is that an international organization is bringing human rights to life through a series of events, audiovisual presentations, forums, concerts and more.

United for Human Rights is a non-profit organization, formed on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to provide human rights resources and educational materials to all sectors of society. Its Tennessee chapter is creating a series of events to mark “Peace Day” in Nashville, Tennessee on September 21st.

The main event is a concert for peace in East Nashville at the Pavilion East on Fatherland Street. It begins at 4:00 pm with Americana singer/songwriter Jon Statham taking the stage. That is also the time that several children’s activities start up including free face painting, art projects and a bouncy house for small children. Non-profit booths will open at this time and will pass out peace-related messages.

At 4:30 pm, Joseph Bell, the front man of the critically acclaimed Who’s Bad Michael Jackson Tribute Tour will perform, followed by Bianca Moon at 5:00 pm. Moon is an Emmy-nominated songwriter, recognized for her song The Bold and the Beautiful.

At 5:30 pm, Dove Award Nominee and Gospel Pop Artist T-Ran Gilbert will perform original songs. Then at 6:00 pm, human rights education hour begins, first with a ten-minute documentary on the history of human rights followed by thirty public service messages that depict each point of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Immediately after this educational piece, religious leaders from the area will join Father Joseph Breen on stage as he delivers a World Prayer for Peace.

During human rights education hour, free BBQ sliders will be given out.

At 7:00 pm, American songwriting icon Melanie performs. Melanie is best known for her hit songs “Brand New Key” and “What Have they Done to My Song, Ma?” She was also an original performer at Woodstock.  To close out the show, all guests will be encouraged to light a candle for peace with Melanie.

For more information about the Peace Day concert, visit peacedayconcert.org.