Instruments of Freedom
When: Saturday, April 02, 2005, 7:00 pm
Where: Auditorium :: LBJ Library and Museum :: 2313 Red River Street
Contact: Sarah McCracken [sarah@lbjfoundation.org...]
Future Forum Members are invited to Attend Instruments of Freedom, A Forum & Concert To Examine Musicians And Social Engagement. Future Forum Members may pick up their tickets on the night of the event. "The summit of musical artists and scholars, which will take place at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library on the UT campus at 7 p.m. as part of a weeklong campus celebration of music and social change from February 26 to March 5, 2005, will be followed by a concert in the hall.
Admission is free and open to the public. Forum guests include Roky Erickson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Marcia Ball, Kinky Friedman, Sara Hickman, David Garza, Tony Scalzo, Carolyn Wonderland, and Harold McMillan. A concert following the forum will be hosted by David Garza and feature several special guests. Musicians have used song for social commentary and activism from the time of ancient Greek poet-songsters right through the recent tsunami-relief concert in Austin. In the early twentieth century, UT employee John A. Lomax and his son Alan pioneered field recordings of African-American blues singers like Leadbelly and Muddy Waters, while today Willie Nelson uses song and rallies in support of family farmers.
These and other efforts are the focus of this forum. A round table discussion with audience participation will allow musicians a unique opportunity to relate their personal experiences with social engagement and comment on the impact of music and musicians on major social and political issues.
This provocative exchange of ideas among students, academics, politicians, artists and the general public is a first of its kind at the University. The Instruments of Freedom forum recognizes the contributions to social change made by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1965, President Johnson championed the national voting rights act as an important instrument of freedom pass[ing] into the hands of millions of our citizens.
But that instrument must be used. In the spirit of his rallying call, and in conjunction with the LBJ Library and Museums exhibition, Signs of the Times: Life in the Swingin Sixties, musicians and scholars will lend their voices and views at the Instruments of Freedom forum. Sponsors of the event include College of Communication, Center for American Music, LBJ Library and Museum, UT Mediation and Facilitation Clinic, and Global Leadership Organization."