Ben Grosscup serves as director of People's Music Network. Ben initiated the PMN Song of the Month, a project to integrate inspiring new songs of freedom and struggle in today’s progressive movements. Based in Western Massachusetts, Ben can also be found singing at gatherings where people are fighting for immigrant rights and ecological justice, and resisting military violence. Twice a year, musicians and activists carrying on the tradition of music for social change gather for workshops and song-sharing at PMN Gatherings.
Stephen Lee Rich is a musician with a joke (or a comedian with a song), a yodeler, and a leading figure in the work of Musicians United to Protect Bristol Bay. Based in Madison, WI, and performing & recording frequently with Sandy Andina, Stephen is both serious and humorous and caffeine-fueled.
Mary Amel is a facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) through FNVW/AVP Minnesota. AVP happens in 6 prisons in Minnesota and a few dozen states around the USA, and widely internationally. Mary has participated in several international AVP trainings, including in Nepal, Guatemala, and Nigeria, offering transformative, experiential, workshops which equip participants with new ways of dealing with violence and the threat of violence.
Featured Music:
Have You Been to Jail for Justice? - Anne Feeney
Libby Roderick is a world-healing singer/songwriter, best known for her song How Could Anyone. Firmly rooted in Alaska and inspired by Native Alaskan ways of thinking, Libby combines deep concern for the Earth and its creatures with beautiful music and lyrics, to inspire and equip listeners toward a better world.
Ursula Ruedenberg became Affiliate Network Manager of Pacifica at a critical time, when we were on the edge of loosing Pacifica's voice and witness. Though we're not out of the woods yet, Ursula has followed this path and done this work in faithfulness to the great tradition of peace, truth, and community which is central to Pacifica, and she is a sign of hope and inspiration for the power and future of community radio.
Ursula Ruedenberg is Affiliate Network Manager of Pacifica, doing the great work of bringing together the energies and voices of grassroots activists all over the country. Founded by peace activists, with 5 anchor stations and hundreds of affiliates, Pacifica has played a pivotal role in forming the radio and news landscape of the USA, and Ursula has played her own pivotal role over the last decade and a half.
Musicians United to Protect Bristol Bay have been spreading the call to step forward for the well-being of the people and way of life threatened by the proposed Pebble Mine of the coast next to Alaska's Bristol Bay. It's a hopeful time as we speak to several defenders of the land - musician Si Kahn, former Alaskan State Senator, Suzanne Little, dog-musher Monica Zappa, & Alaskan Representative, Bryce Edgmon.
Featured Music:
Abundance - Si Kahn
Our Children's Children - Bryce Edgmon
Though Susan Grace Stoltz was Michigan raised, she's all about her home in Alaska - the people who are really there for you, the rivers, protecting the land and creatures, and, again, the people. A beautiful soul and voice with vibrant lyrics, Susan brings listeners into the Light.
Most activists recognize the strength to social action groups of drawing power from across the racial and sex/gender landscape, but too few recognize the key effects of class. In Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures, Betsy Leondar-Wright shines a focused light on the opportunities for pulling together as never before, by seeing the many ways in which social class impacts our thoughts, actions, and organizing. Betsy's previous book is Class Matters, and she is program director of and senior trainer for Class Action.