Event description

Sing People Sing! QUEER AND POC-LED COMMUNITY SONG CIRCLES in Pdx

with special guest Te Martin

ABOUT SING PEOPLE SING! ALL-INCLUSIVE:

We invite you to this queer and poc-led singing gathering (open to all) to experience the power of song as medicine, as a tool for liberation, and to simply fill your well of joy and connection. We believe singing is a birthright and welcome all levels of experience. We teach songs on-the-spot, usually through call and echo, that are sourced from the modern community singing movement or have come through the song leaders themselves. We hope you will bring the wholeness of who you are to this embodied experience of singing with full permission to be in movement, grief, laughter and more.

We aim to create an integrated space rooted in understandings of our historical context and current social realities. No matter your gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, abilities, immigration or housing status, you are welcome, wanted, and needed here.

Our gathering is focused on singing and will have designated percussion support. You are welcome to play provided percussion instruments upon invitation.

ABOUT SONG CONTENT:

We understand that this country has a legacy of taking musical gifts from other cultures and using them inappropriately, out of context, or for profit. We will do our best to sing songs with permission, to acknowledge context wherever possible, or simply not sing certain songs if it feels harmful.

We also understand that many of us have previous connections to community singing through religious contexts. This may still be meaningful or may be alienating. To create more inclusivity, we will avoid explicitly religious content. We do invite a spiritual space but do our best to sing from common ground. You are never expected to sing anything that does not feel resonant or aligned for you.

Unless clearly alerted ahead of time, you can expect that songs will not include sexually-explicit content.

THE VENUE:

Kindness Farm is an educational regenerative farm in SE Portland.

The farm provide equitable access to land and immersive, hands-on environmental education for children and adults, addressing health inequalities and transforming our local food system into one that is sustainable, just, and community-driven.

Through environmental and conservation literacy, they teach holistic methods that heal the earth, preserve habitat, promote biodiversity, sequester carbon, and build climate resilience. By integrating urban agriculture, environmental education, and food access, it drives to restore ecosystem health, strengthen local food sovereignty, and protect both people and wildlife. They also provide 100% of the produce we grow, at no cost, to our community.

They work with communities that have been systemically excluded from getting the resoruces they need.

Street parking and carpooling are encouraged wherever feasible.

ACCESSIBILITY:

General Info: When you arrive, you'll see a Kindness Farm sign by the mailbox. Walk to the back of the property, under the carport, past the house, and follow the woodchip pathway.

Two Bathrooms are available inside the Community House, stairs required to access one.

Parking: Please park on the farm side of the street anywhere up or down the street. Do NOT park on the grass across the street from the farm (you will see "No Parking" signs). This is important for safety vehicles to pass through. We reserve 2 driveway parking spots (in the gravel, on the right) for folks with accessibility needs. This event is expected to have many attendees, so folks will need to park further away / on adjacent streets and walk to the farm.

Accessibility: Venue is not certified ADA accessible. The farm's bathroom is not technically ADA accessible, but has been used by folks with wheelchairs. The majority of the farm itself is accessible, though not all parts are (we have some narrow pathways). Note that we use woodchips for the majority of our pathways.

There may be clapping, snapping, screaming, wailing, or big laughter. If you have a particular sensitivity to sound, please consider this knowing you are welcome and encouraged you to find ways to take care of yourself amidst this environment.

EVENT DETAILS:

Arrival: 6:30-7pm

Singing: 7-9:30pm

This is a no-alcohol event

All ages welcome

$15-45 sliding scale

Pay what you can / No one turned away Ticket: $0-$14 >> enter Access Code: CARETICKET

Your contribution offers reciprocity to the organizers and song leaders of this offering, the living descendants of this land, and helps to keep this series sustainable and regenerative. If financial resources are limited, we offer a "Pay What You Can" ticket option. And of course, no one is turned away. If you’d like to offer reciprocity in other ways, please contact host (i.e help with set/clean up, or other skills/offerings)

REGISTER ONLINE IN ADVANCE. We will absorb $1.29 fixed fee and split percentage fee (50/50) with you. Our ticketing platform Humanitix donates 100% of profit from your booking fee to children's charities.

COMMUNITY CARE:

If you are not feeling well, please stay home. Masking is not required for this event. We encourage you to mask and distance to your own comfort level and will hold a culture of respect for the choices everyone makes to take care of themselves. In the case of having to stay home because of feeling ill, contact host before the event starts to receive a full refund minus booking fees. No refunds will be offered if contact is made after the event.

Kids 12 and under are free and do not need to register (must be accompanied by an adult)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & TITHING:

We acknowledge that the land upon which we will sing is the traditional territory of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, Grande Ronde and many more tribes.

A portion of donations will go to the Native American Youth and Family Center (nayapdx.org) to support our local indigenous community.

WHAT WILL BE PROVIDED:

Water and hot tea- there will be limited cups, please bring a water bottle or hot beveage cup

Restroom facilities

WHAT TO BRING:

A water bottle and/or hot tea mug

Any clothing layers and supports you need to to help your body feel comfortable

A chair, cushion, bolster, and/or blanket - whatever will make you comfortable outdoors on the farm around a fire.

Items for altar

Your voice, your open heart, your whole truth

OUR GUEST SONGLEADER:

Te Martin’s sounds are shaped by the pacific ocean, coastal redwoods, desert sage, and rocky gorges. They grew up on Ramaytush Ohlone land in san francisco, where they learned from cycling the hills, Pride parades, and training in circus arts. Now, Te is a student of their ancestral Irish bodhrán drum and they lead singing classes and workshops that are focused on song as a tool for collective liberation, somatic regulation, and ancestral connection. Te co-organized Thrive Street Choir in the Bay Area for 6 years and founded Murmuration Community Choir in sebastopol, ca. Listen to their EP, Water & Bones, and check out their music video, “May This Body Be a Bridge”

YOUR HOSTS:

Shireen “Riyo” Amini (they/them) is a queer, trans, Puerto Rican-Iranian American, earth-loving song creator, rhythm maker, and community facilitator based in Portland, Oregon. As a human, they carry a deep commitment to their own liberation path and vision of a more just world. As an artist, they believe strongly in music’s power to propel cultural revolution. Shireen blends pop, rock, hip hop, latin, and roots sensibilities with socially-conscious themes as a singer-songwriter and creates modern medicine music for community singing. In song circles, they hold transformational space, leading joyful, groove-based songs, evoking tenderness, and often engaging participants in the rhythm and ceremony of it all. Stay tuned for Shireen’s first community song album in-the-works, tentatively titled “Gather Your Resilience: Medicine Songs for Liberation."Shireen also teaches drumming, leads workshops, and facilitates grief ritual as part of her community-based music empowerment project Shireen Amini Music Medicine.

Darlissa Andrea (she/they/all pronouns) is a Puerto Rican, Cape Verdean, and Hawaiian singer-songwriter, community facilitator and life coach. She focuses on bringing folks together through self development, connection, community collaboration. Check out her website.