WHAT: Rochester's celebration of A Season for Nonviolence culminates with a closing ceremony that will formally recognize the 100 youth who participated in the Season's Youth Activist Movement and will celebrate the nonviolence work being done by community members across the county.
During the ceremony, members of the Youth Activist Movement will share their thoughts on the Season for Nonviolence and their experiences through the 64-day period. City of Rochester Councilmember Elaine Spaull and Kit Miller, director of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at the University of Rochester, also will give remarks.
TIME, DATE, PLACE: 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4, at Rochester City Hall (30 Church St.)
ABOUT A SEASON FOR NONVIOLENCE: Planned by the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at the University of Rochester, along with a host of community partners, A Season for Nonviolence is the nationally celebrated 64-day period between the memorial anniversaries of the assassinations of Mohandas K. Gandhi on Jan. 30 and of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4. Launched in 1998 at the United Nations, the Season is a time to reflect upon the nonviolent practices of Gandhi and King. This year, Rochester joined nearly 900 communities in its observance of the season.
New to this year's celebration was the Youth Activist Movement, which brought more than 100 students from the city of Rochester and its outlying suburbs together to train in nonviolence principles and practices. Throughout the season, the Youth Activists had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with invited guests including members of the hip-hop educational group, the Foundation Movement, and Paul Chappel, nationally recognized peace activist, West Point graduate, and veteran of the Iraq war.
The 2012 season also included a screening of portions of the film A Force More Powerful, which looks at how nonviolence campaigns have been effective in creating change throughout history, the traveling art exhibit "Americans Who Tell the Truth," which was on display at the Central Library Link Gallery, and a public lecture by Chappel, among other activities.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Media interested in covering the ceremony can call Melissa Greco Lopes at 585.276.3693. For information about the season, visit http://bethechangerochester.org/.