Amanda Camacho, President of Asopapagayo Flower Union in Bogota, Colombia with DOLE FRESH FLOWERS

Carolina Delgado, South Florida Organizer for Fairness in Flowers Campaign /Comercio Justo de Flores

Flower worker from the Central Florida Region (name TBA)

Every year for Mother’s Day millions of cut flowers are bought and sold in the United States, but where do these beautiful perfect flowers come from, and how are they produced? Here in the U.S. and abroad, particularly in Colombia, workers in the Flower Industry, many of whom are women, face a variety of labor problems on a daily basis. Injustices against these workers range from low wages and unpaid overtime to an excessive workload and an unsafe working environment, including exposure to harmful pesticides.

Please join this panel as they make the connection between the local and global struggles to improve standards for workers in a growing industry for American consumers.  In 2004 U.S. consumers bought $385 million worth of flowers from Colombia.  As the United States remains the largest market for cut flowers, workers are uniting to build pressure for higher standards.

Presented by: National Farmworker Ministry, Central Florida Jobs with Justice, Farm Worker Association of Florida

WHEN: Thursday, May 14th @ 7:30pm
WHERE: Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.
COST: Donations appreciated

This Friday, May 1st, join us here at the CMC after the Coalition Save Our Schools march for an informal potluck dinner and May Day celebration, including a teach-in on workers’ rights, labor history, the Employee Free Choice Act, and other current  national, regional, and local labor issues.

Bring a dish, dessert, drink, or snacks and let’s celebrate the achievements, honor the history, and organize to continue the struggle for working people’s rights.

The Coalition SOS “May Day! May Day! Education Cuts Are Sinking Public Schools!” rally starts at 4:30pm at the Kirby-Smith Center, 602 E. University Ave.  The rally will be followed by a march that will proceed downtown to the Civic Media Center.

If you’re still up for more May Day revelry after the dinner and celebration at the Center, join us at 1982 Bar for a benefit concert for the CMC (see info below).

WHEN: Friday, May 1st @ 6pm
WHERE: Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.
COST: Donations appreciated

CMC Benefit at 1982 Bar

Please join us for this rockin’ May Day benefit show for the Civic Media Center at 1982 Bar, featuring local ska and punk rock heroes Chupaskabra, No More, and Victory Blvd.  This is an all ages show!  Please note early start time.

WHEN: Friday, May 1st @ 8pm
WHERE: 1982 Bar, 919 W. University Ave.
COST: $7 under 21, $5 21+

WHEN: Friday, April 17th @ 8pm
WHERE: Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.
COST: $15 @ door; $12 advance tickets available @ Hyde-N-Zeke Records & Wild Iris  Books

“Pierce Pettis doesn’t write mere songs, he writes literature…End to end the
songwriting is brilliant…Pierce Pettis albums are events in my listening. His
writing just gets better all the time and his singing is marvelous, wry and
warm…” Sing Out!

For more info on Pierce and his music please visit his Myspace Music Page: Pierce Pettis Music and his new Sonic Bids electronic press kit at: Sonic Bids Electronic Press Kit.

Please join us for this very special event, Thursday, March 26th from 7-8:30pm at the Wilhelmina Johnson Center, 321 NW 10th Street.

We are pleased to have author, civil rights activist and folklorist Stetson Kennedy on hand to talk about Harry T. Moore’s activism in the context of Jim Crow Florida, and his own continuing investigations into the murders of Harry and Harriet Moore.

From the film’s synopsis: “In 1951 after celebrating Christmas Day, civil rights activist Harry T. Moore and his wife Harriette retired to bed in their white frame house tucked inside a small orange grove in Mims, Florida. Ten minutes later, a bomb shattered their house, their lives and any notions that the south’s post-war transition to racial equality would be a smooth one. Harry Moore died on the way to the hospital; his wife died nine days later.”

Produced by The University of Florida’s Documentary Institute

WHEN: THURSDAY, March 26, 2009, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
(Immediately following the NAACP General Body Meeting, which begins at 6:00 PM)
WHERE: Wilhelmina Johnson Resource Center (321 NW 10th Street)
COST: Donations appreciated

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED!

In addition to the usual vast spread of fine food from area restaurants, the art and services available for silent auction, and door prizes, we will have a very special guest speaker, Nadine Smith, speaking on the topic of “Media’s Power and the Struggle for Equality,” followed by Q & A.

Doors will open at 6pm, Ms. Smith will speak at 7:30, and we will have our final round of raffle and door prizes at 9pm. Refreshments will be available throughout the evening.

Nadine Smith is the current Executive Director of Equality Florida. Ms. Smith has led advocacy efforts in Florida at a time of unprecedented attacks on the LGBT community. She has served as Equality Florida’s lead representative in Tallahassee and has lead efforts to stop discriminatory legislation and to overturn Florida’s ban on adoption by gay and lesbian parents.

Ms. Smith has been recognized for her national and state leadership by organizations around the country, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum.

Her speech will be especially timely in light of the upcoming vote on Gainesville Charter Amendment 1 on March 24th and the incredible amount of media devoted to both sides of the issue.

WHEN: Friday, March 20 @ 6pm
WHERE: The Matheson Museum, 513 E. University Ave.
COST: $15 door, $10 advance, tickets available at Wild Iris Books and Hyde and Zeke’s

Featured speakers will include United States Senator Bill Nelson, UF  President Dr. J. Bernard Machen and Dr. Harry Shaw. Dr. Shaw served as a  charter member of the Affirmative Action Advisory Council as well as  overseeing minority recruitment, retention and mentoring at the College  of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UF for many years.

Mr. Joel Buchanan, a leading figure and historian of the civil rights  movement in Gainesville will facilitate an exciting roundtable of  distinguished speakers on the evening of the seventeenth including:  Professor Sherry DuPree, Mrs. Evelyn Marie Moore Mickle, Dr. Gwendolyn  Zohara Simmons and Dan Harmeling. The evening will also feature entertainment by the UF Gospel Choir and  Madear’s Kids!

We hope to facilitate a dialog on the importance of African American  history as well as the urgent need to gather, preserve, and promote  Florida Black History to younger generations before this history is lost  forever.

WHEN:Tuesday, March 17 @ 6pm
WHERE: University of Florida Library East, 1st floor

Please join the Civic Media Center for our grand “re-opening” celebration on Saturday, February 21^st from 2-6pm at the new CMC space at 433 S. Main Street (formerly George’s Meet and Produce). CMC members, the press and the public at large are invited to share light refreshments, take a look around the new facility and talk with our Board, volunteers, and staff about our plans for the new space.

The festivities will start with an open house at the new space at 433 S. Main Street, beginning at 2PM. There will be a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4pm.

Stetson Kennedy, civil rights activist, Florida folklorist, and author, who has just announced that he plans to donate his personal collection of books to the Civic Media Center, will be on hand to sign copies of his classic Civil-Rights-era text The Klan Unmasked and his latest work, Grits and Grunts: Folkloric Key West.

The party continues later in the evening, as the CMC hosts local music groups Umoja Orchestra, Bang Bang Boom!, and Boss Lady and the Company, starting at 8pm. Please come out and enjoy the beginning of this new era with the Civic Media Center.

Parking is available in the “Story House” lot at the East corner of 5^th Ave. and S. Main St. (first gate on the right when you turn off of Main onto 5th), as well as in the Alachua County Courthouse lots 1 block North on the West side of S. Main St.

WHERE: The Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St.
WHEN: Saturday, February 21st from 2-6pm (ribbon-cutting at 4pm)

We will be moving to our new location at 433 S. Main St. during the week of Monday, Feb. 10th through Saturday Feb. 14th.

We will have sporadic and variable hours at our current location during that week, as most of our volunteers and staff will be focused on moving. Please contact us at 352-373-0010 or email coordinators@civicmediacenter.org if you’re interested in helping with the move or with renovations in the new space anytime within the next week.

We will be open at 433 S. Main St. beginning Monday, Feb. 16th, including our regular Monday film screening, which will feature the film “Occupation 101,” co-sponsored by United World Organization, starting at 8pm (see calendar for details).

Please join us for our Grand (Re)Opening, Saturday February 21st, featuring an Open House from 2-6pm and Ribbon-cutting at 4pm.

Watch this space for more details on the move in the coming weeks.

This screening is presented by the Gainesville General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, and features potluck refreshments and a discussion afterwards.  Come out, bring a dish, a drink or some snacks, and stick around after the movie to discuss issues of workers’ rights and labor organizing.

WHEN: Weds., Dec. 17th @ 8pm
WHERE: Civic Media Center, 1021 W. University Ave.
COST: $5 donation requested

WHEN: Saturday, December 6th at 8pm
WHERE: George’s Meet and Produce, 433 S. Main St.
COST: $5 to $10 sliding scale donation