Rickie Speaks and Performs at the Chicago Green Festival
Sat, May 17, 2008
Rickie Perform at the Chicago Green Festival
Rickie joins Dr. Cornel West, Chuck D, Winona LaDuke, and Van Jones at the 2008 Green Festival in Chicago.
Rickie sings: "Change Your Mind," "Water to a Dry Land," "Woke Up This Morning," I'm Ready To Listen," I Release," and "Alle-Alleluia."
Watch The Video of the Perfomance Here
See the Green Festival's Speaker Directory Here
About The Festival:
CHICAGO GREEN FESTIVAL GATHERS TOGETHER PEOPLE OF ALL SHADES OF GREEN
City’s Second Sustainability Event Draws Record Crowd: Attendance Over 35,000
Green Festival Brings Diverse Crowd to Navy Pier; Makes Strides in Greening of Events Industry
Chicago, IL (June, 2008) – Returning for a second year in a row, Green Festival, a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, brought its celebration of sustainability to the greater Chicagoland area May 17 and 18. Surpassing last year’s impressive attendance by several thousand, this year’s event drew a diverse crowd of over 35,000 to Chicago’s historic Navy Pier for a weekend that built community around the growth of the green economy while fostering the development of accessible sustainable ideas. Now in its seventh year and in four cities nationwide, Green Festival is the world’s largest and most authentic green living show that demonstrates its commitment to sustainability through extensive event-greening efforts.
This year’s Chicago Green Festival played host to over 150 visionary speakers, 300 local and national green businesses, and dozens of community and non-profit groups. The Chicago Host Committee of 50 community leaders, including Naomi Davis, Founder of Blacks in Green and recipient of a Chicago Magazine Green Award, Peter Nicolson, Director of the Foresight Design Initiative, and Reverend Clare Butterfield, Executive Director of Faith in Place, developed varied and innovative programming with a local focus to appeal to all crowds.
The weekend celebration commenced with an official welcome from Mayor Richard M. Daley who provided remarks on the city government’s dedication to making Chicago an environmentally friendly urban community. Over the course of the weekend, the City of Chicago engaged Green Festival visitors at the Green Pavilion to provide tips for citizens to protect their environment while simultaneously saving money.
"The City of Chicago understands that it must engage its residents and provide them the necessary tools, information and resources to reduce our impact on all natural resources," said Suzanne Malec-McKenna, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Environment. "The numbers clearly show that Chicagoans care about the environment and their continued interest will undoubtedly push Chicago towards the goal of being the greenest city in the nation.”
Green Festival attendees explored the latest in renewable energy and innovative technology, green building, socially responsible investing, eco-fashion, green careers and green collar jobs, natural foods, groundbreaking films, eco-tourism, and more. The wide selection of workshops, speakers and panelists covered topics ranging from “What to Look for in a Truly Green Home” and “Solar Energy 101” to “Creating Conservation in Chicago’s Schools” and “Creating New Family Traditions Through a Green Lens.”
“The Green Festival is truly a place that addresses all kinds of interests and learning styles, as the offerings and people who attend are so diverse,” says Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director of Co-op America. “From families with school-age children to couples starting a new home, people come to Green Festival for education, insight and exposure, and they end up making discoveries together.”
While the event and tradeshow industries are notoriously wasteful, utilizing excessive energy, dumping tons of waste into landfills, and “leaving crater-sized environmental footprints,” Green Festival strives to be an exemplary model of environmental responsibility (USA Today, April 22, 2008). In each locale, Green Festival demonstrates its commitment to walking its green talk, and sought to improve upon its resource recovery record from the previous year. Through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and meticulous sorting procedures to reuse, recycle and compost, 94% of all show waste was recovered, a 2% increase in recovery rate from last year’s event that translates to a mere 4% loss to landfills. Festival goers also found other opportunities to make an impact by reducing their environmental imprint; attendees arrived by bike and mass transit and many came toting used books to donate to BetterWorldBooks’ effort to fund scholarships in developing countries.
Efforts taken to reduce the event’s environmental impact include:
Dozens of “resource recovery stations” were placed throughout the space to encourage proper sorting of waste into recycling, composting and landfill categories
600 “Green team” volunteers were on hand to help attendees choose the appropriate waste receptacle and sort waste materials
Event organizers worked directly with exhibitors to identify opportunities for material re-use, recycled and energy efficient fixtures, carbon emissions neutralizing and overall conversion to eco-friendly practices
Plates and utensils used in the food pavilion were compostable
Now in its seventh year, Green Festival’s circuit includes San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. and saw combined attendance of over 100,000 in 2007. The next festivals will take place this fall in Washington, D.C. November 8 and 9, 2008 and in San Francisco November 14-16, 2008.
Rickie Byars Beckwith, Music and Arts Director for Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, California, composes and performs moving, melodic music "to inspire deep feeling in the heart and to bring joy to the earth." She has produced six CDs that are favorites to thousands. Her most recent project, Supreme Inspiration, was produced by her daughter, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and led to her first music video, Alle-Alleluia.
Rickie's extensive body of work inspires spiritual communities around the world. "Spirit encourages me to be a voice of inspiration and to bring 'water to a dry land,'" she said. Described as an "intuitive channel of healing music," Rickie has performed at five sessions with His Holiness the Dalai Lama -- twice in India and three times in Italy. In addition, she has facilitated women's retreats for more than 11 years with Mary Manin, founder of LifeSoulutions.
As Director of the Agape International Choir for almost two decades, Rickie has composed, arranged and directed music for a group that began as 30 voices and has grown to more than 200. “The Agape Choir brings joy to my music and to my life,” she said. The choir has performed at New York City's Lincoln Center, The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, the John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood Hills, the United Nations and other distinguished venues.
Very much in demand, Agape Choir delivered an incredible performance in 2007 to more than 20,000 people attending a Twilight Dance Series concert at Santa Monica Pier, sharing the evening with famed hip-hop legends Arrested Development. The choir performs this May in concert with Fabien Maman and other artists at the Global Sounds Conference in Marina Del Rey. The choir also is preparing for its next great "Love Train" adventure -- a tour that will take them to Georgia, Florida and Cuba in February 2009. With Rickie as conductor, rest assured that everyone who gets on board will be lifted.
A headline solo performer in concerts across America, Rickie is planning an upcoming concert tour "to celebrate all the beautiful songs that inspire those who love my music." A recent composition aired to 15.9 million viewers on the debut of Oprah Winfrey's new TV show, The Big Give. Her songs also have been featured on The West Wing, Strong Medicine, and, most recently, TV One's Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors.
Rickie loves to collaborate with her husband, friend, and Agape founder Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith. Together, this powerful partnering developed a workshop combining transformational content with Rickie's healing music, recently presented at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado to unanimous acclaim. They also are among an eminent faculty presenting at the Omega Institute's Being Fearless conference scheduled for April 11-13 in New York City. Rickie looks forward to future creative endeavors with her husband and other like-minded seekers.
Whether composing music, directing the Agape Choir, performing solo in concert, facilitating retreats, or bringing prayerful vibrations of sound to an Agape service or her immediate family, Rickie is comfortable with her calling and generously shares her recipe for success: “The ingredients for a great and meaningful life must include joy, gratitude and service to humanity.” It is no wonder that so many who know and love the music that comes through Rickie Byars Beckwith affectionately call her the Angel of Joy.
Rickie was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and spent formative years in Atlanta, Georgia as well. She is the sixth of 10 children. "I love my family and the beautiful foundation for growth they provided," she said. "I love God, I love serving the world, I love making new friends, and I love to eat good vegetarian food."
A natural and self-taught musician, Rickie started singing at age 3 in Miss Anita Stroud's Tots Choir in Charlotte and has been singing ever since. Early influences include Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, the music of Motown, Liverpool and Stax Records, and the early gospel music of the Soul Stirrers with Sam Cooke.
Before her introduction to Agape, Rickie was lead singer with the New York Jazz Quartet, Pharoah Sanders Ensemble, Ronald Muldrow Ensemble and many other bands. Since Agape, her path has been one of spiritual inspiration: "I have found my niche and my divine vocation."