Ticket sells

Dear all,

While listening to everyone during the conference call on the 2nd of march, it was amazing . I think there are a few things to be kept in mind while doing it -

(1) Sponsorships apart from ticket sells are needed. In this concert while we are trying to forge powerfully the youth movement for change we also need to raise funds. As our teachers told us previously we need to raise money which is also a part of the whole event. So when we go to companies for sponsorship it is not needed to be ticket sales (that should be the last option), so that we can far reach out in raising funds along with the awareness movement.

(2) University students and young professionals are the two sectors we need to target. Keeping that in mind if we can start the promotion by word of mouth in the club meetings, in our classrooms just in cities in and around montreal, we can get our target audience outnumbering what we even imagine.

(3) As for young professionals - from now till the day of the concert we should work on organizing and giving intro talks or the 2 hours Artofliving introductory workshops in each and every company we can get to.

And secondly for the concert what do you all think about getting some university student performers as well. Like in Quebec city we just had a YES!+ course and there is a student from up north Nunavut, who performs the traditional throat singing. I am sure in every city we have such talents.

Loads of love to all,
Peace,
Mausumi

Governor General and Urban Arts Forum

Hey everyone - check out this info about the Gov Gen's Urban Arts Forum.
Last summer there was an excellent music/arts festival here in Toronto (called The Manifesto) featuring some great artists, it had a strong youth/social message and it collaborated with the Urban Arts Forum.

Please check out:
http://www.gg.ca/gg/youth/index_e.asp
http://www.themanifesto.ca/

Urban Arts Forums

The Urban Arts Forums were launched to illustrate how young artists from all backgrounds are using urban arts (hip hop, graffiti, spoken word, break dancing, etc.) to combat social exclusion and crime, and to bring about change in their communities. Forums have taken place from one end of Canada to the other, as well as in Brazil and South Africa. Featuring artists, decision makers, members of the Order of Canada and civic leaders, the forums have resulted in new community initiatives, which, on more than one occasion, have encouraged entire communities to work together.

Jai Gurudev,
Abhimanyu

Showcasing Who We Are

From Antoine:

Somehow, this event has to create a link to who we are and what we stand for. Otherwise, what's the point? Let's be creative and do things that other event organizers could never do like a guided meditation, a 10 minute knowledge session with the YES!+ Teachers, 2 or 3 bhajans, the enthusiasm clapping game... 
One of the failures of the Sarah McLaughlan concert in Toronto is that it created very little awareness about AoL. We showcased others but we were too shy to showcase ourselves. Let's make sure this time that everyone get's hyped about YES!+ by the end of the show... If you do it right, You can easily get an extra 100 registrations on the spot for our YES!+ Course that will start the following Tuesday.

Some Ideas about how we will do this? Post lots of comments!!

Create a Buzz!!

More from Antoine:

Since your event is more than just a concert it is also a social message, you could for example organize an eMerge 2009 Contest where people can submit 60 second videos on different environmental and social themes that are relevant to youth. This will create media attention and you can premier the Top 10 best videos at the concert. Contact film schools and get "emerging" film directors to participate! The Contest could become your pretext for contacting and involving all the different environmental groups, social groups, and get them to participate in your event. This will get the word out about the event and all these different groups and associations who will premier their videos will bring members. Have the newspapers and radio stations announce the rules of the contest and write a story on it. All this will help fill up the room!

Comments, people?

mp3 PSA for the radio

Hey Guys!

I have posted a file on the google group for you guys to check out, it's a PSA (public service announcement ie/ free ad) that the Halifax team made together, to send to radio stations when you're organizing YES!+ courses in your city. Some of them won't play anything prerecorded but some of them will. If you would like us to tweak it to fit your dates, place, phone number, etc, give us a call.

Jai Gurudev!!

love Jo

Long term vision for our movement

This is the first paragraph of the introduction to Guruji's book by Greg Larsen. "In our general education we are taught many things. We learn to read and write, we learn something of science, mathematics, geography, and history. Some delve into music and art. Unfortunately, the most fundamental of knowledge has not been taught-- how to manage one's own mind and emotions to develope and enjoy the fullest of what human life can offer. No other knowledge is more valuable in determining the quality of one's life."

EXACTLY! breathing techniques, pranayama, meditation, ego busting techniques, all of this should and must be taught at all levels of education, elementary through university. Mind and emotion management and awareness is the most fundamental of knowledge and its not taught!! it should be mandatory.

Here is a quote from our Guru from the same book. "Right education is that which creates in each person a sense of belongingness with the whole world. A person learns to embrace all religions of the world as his own and can choose to practice one without decrying the other. Members of a family can practice more than one religion. This should be the strategy for the 21st century".

There is our long term mission for the Yes+ movement in Canada: Lets strive to get Mind management techniques and courses such as Yes+ happening at every level of education, so that eventually we may finally have the right educationin which we are all aware of the fact that we are One, that we belong to eachother and the world; that we are eachother and the world, therefore transcending limited indentifications with names, creeds, philosophies, politics and religion. We can learn to be all or none of these limited identifications because we have been deeply ingrained through our education system that we are all One.

Love, bless, Jai Gurudev

Al

Help ideas flow

Hey homies,

I was recently reading our beloved Guru-man's book "Wisdom for the New Millennium" and the first few chapters are chalk full of comments, ideas and knowledge which, of course, correlate exactly to what we want to do for our mission regarding the Canadian Yes+ movement. If your short on inspiration and ideas, go to this book. GuruoOoOm, GuruOooOm, Guruoooommmmm. Jai Gurudev. Jaya, jaya, jaya.

Al