Join us for our 5th annual Freedom Festival. There will be free music, free food, free art activities and lots more to celebrate and motivate the spirit of creative resistance outdoors at Freedom Square—featuring the local band that rocked the stage at the Women’s March on Washington! Enjoy music by Taina Asili and more!

Rain location is next door at The Sanctuary for Independent Media.

Co-sponsor Activity Tables

• Sanctuary Art: Freedom Flags / Facepainting with volunteers from LUSH! / plus more
• Childrens’ Museum:  With live animals
• NATURE Lab Troy Citizen Science:  Perfume botany station plus styrofoam-eating mealworms 
• Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Transition Troy: Bike powered smoothies and more
• North Central Little League
• Unity House: Resources showcase
• The Friends of the Library: Sign up for a library card on the spot
• Troy Zero Waste: Compost arts and eco-education activities
• League of Women Voters of Rensselaer County: register to vote
• Leaders Leading Troy: Stop the Violence presentation
• TEAM HERO / BLOCK: Stop the Violence poetry by Diamond Owens and Tai Nikki O
• Troy Bike Rescue: Bike Auction 
• Capital Women: “March for Truth” sign-making table  
• Troy Sanctuary movement: info table
• Compassion and Choices NY

Food

• Barbeque by Unity House 
• Collard City Growers delights integrated into delicious food from our KitchenSanctuary chefs Azure, Jonathan, Intaba, Jim and others!
• Cake from Bella Napoli and sweet deserts!

Music

Taina Asili is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, bandleader and activist carrying on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. Residing in Albany, NY, she performs her social justice with her eight-piece band, Taína Asili y la Banda Rebelde. Taína Asili’s voice exudes strength of Spirit, filling listeners with the fervor for freedom and inspiring audiences dance to the rhythm of rebellion. During Taína Asili’s 20-year career of creating music for social change she has toured the country many times, toured Europe from Ireland to Germany, and has performed in Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Taína Asili has performed at many well-known festivals and venues, sharing the stage with renowned artists and activists such as Talib Kweli, Cornel West, Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Tom Morello, Paula Cole, Jello Biafra, and The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars.
http://tainaasili.com/

Katani is a melodic, lyrical duo of hip hop performance Raptivists committed to truth telling, self-loving and consciousness raising, based in Troy and Albany. They are devoted to unlearning the ideas that keep us all in chains and sharing our truth through the arts as a way to heal, connect, find joy, grow and make space for those often silenced. Their RebelRap Floweticism is influenced by a roster of greats such as Lady of Rage, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé, Billie Holiday, Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Jamila Woods, Janelle Monáe, Frank Ocean, Motown, Kemba, Kendrick Lamar and The Internet to name a few.
http://www.misogynah.com/

With presentations by:

BLOCK / Team Hero– Stop the Violence presentation, poem by Diamond Owens and Tai Nikki O

Leaders Leading Troy — Stop the Violence presentation.

We are committed to lowering the barriers to access for events at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. For people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or low-vision, or whose physical limitations can interfere with a satisfying experience, let us know two weeks in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.