National Bioneers Conference 2018 - October 18-22, 2018: Full Schedule

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5:00pm PDT

Youth Orientation

Thursday night before the conference meet other youth who will be attending Bioneers and become a member of a small mentoring team to share, process and explore your Bioneers experience during the conference with your peers and an experienced mentor from Weaving Earth. Dinner will be served.

Thursday October 18, 2018 5:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Youth Leadership

2:45pm PDT

Tell Your Story | Youth Leadership

Jodie Geddes, Community Organizing Coordinator of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY), will hold space for youth to share their stories, with a focus on finding ways to help interrupt the tragic cycles of violence, incarceration and wasted lives that trap so many young people. We’ll also explore how these cycles are exacerbated by excessively punitive school discipline and unfair juvenile justice policies. RJOY promotes institutional shifts toward restorative approaches that engage families, communities and systems to repair harm and prevent juvenile re-offending.

Workshop Speakers

Jodie Geddes

Jodie Geddes, the Community Organizing Coordinator at Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, uses techniques drawn from speculative fiction, theatre, and other arts to encourage storytelling and action planning for systems-change among youth. She is also the Project Coordinator for... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Activism/Justice/Human Rights

4:30pm PDT

Dreaming the Queer Ecological Future | Youth Leadership

Why is it that for centuries we LGBTQ people have been called "unnatural" or "crimes against nature" when we are as completely part of nature as all other living beings? Come join us for a participatory, immersive exploration of: gender and sexual diversity on this planet; the healing powers of plant allies; and storytelling practices that highlight resilience in both the human and non-human worlds. Together, we'll reclaim our place as forces of nature within diverse social ecosystems, and we'll dream together of a queer ecological future where all beings can exist in harmony and peace. With: Orion Camero, visual storytelling educator and community organizer affiliated with the Beehive Design Collective; Vanessa Raditz, farmer, environmental educator, co-founder of the Queer Ecojustice Project collective.

Workshop Speakers

Orion Camero

Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator, coalition-builder and community organizer, works at the nexus of social, ecological, and economic issues to advance intersectional justice. A Filipinx two-spirit with roots in California’s Central Valley, Orion is one of the stewards... Read More →

Vanessa Raditz

Vanessa Raditz, MPH, a queer farmer, environmental educator, and culture-shifter with an academic background in Environmental Health Sciences, is dedicated to transformative youth programming that supports community healing, opens access to land and resources, and fosters a thriving... Read More →

Friday October 19, 2018 4:30pm - 6:00pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Youth Leadership

6:15pm PDT

Crescent Moon Theater Productions presents Julia’s Travels

Crescent Moon, a cutting-edge, socially engaged troupe founded by artist, performer and theater producer/director Polina Smith, uses vibrant dance, theater, music, circus arts and spirited storytelling to offer us a powerful environmental fable that explores humanity’s connection to nature and our hopes and dreams for the future.

* NOTE: Though this is being held the Youth Unity Center tent, it's an adult oriented show. Nothing in it is inappropriate for children, but the storyline may be hard to follow for the very young.

Workshop Speakers

Polina Smith

Friday October 19, 2018 6:15pm - 6:45pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

2:45pm PDT

Beats, Rhymes, and Life Workshop | Youth Leadership

In this interactive workshop, youth will learn how to express themselves through hip-hop while developing skills in critical thinking, pro-social expression, conflict resolution and positive peer relationship-building. Participants will also have the opportunity to record their songs and spoken word pieces on site. With: Rob Jackson, Oakland-based community leader, educator, hip-hop artist, founder/Executive Director of Beats, Rhymes and Life—a leading group in the emerging field of Hip Hop Therapy.

Workshop Speakers

Rob Jackson

Rob Jackson, an Oakland-based community leader, educator, and hip-hop artist with 20 years’ experience working in the social service field, is founder and Executive Director of Beats, Rhymes and Life, which pioneered one of the first hip hop therapy programs for at-risk youth. He... Read More →

Saturday October 20, 2018 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Arts

4:30pm PDT

Poetry Slam, Words Matter | Youth Leadership

Share your original work and catch “epic ripples” of inspiration from young poets at this spoken-word open forum hosted by Jada Imani of Tau Vison and Youth Speaks.

Workshop Speakers

Jada Imani

Jada Imani, an Oakland, CA-based workshop facilitator, MC, and founder of the Tatu Vision movement, is dedicated to helping co-create regenerative communities through her performing, event production and hosting, healing practice, and coalition-building with communities of poets... Read More →

Saturday October 20, 2018 4:30pm - 6:00pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Arts

2:45pm PDT

Truthworker Theatre Company: Artists As Activists

Come join Samara Gaev, founder and Artistic Director of Truthworker Theatre Company, in a dynamic, interactive workshop that will draw from the multiplicity of narratives that live within the participants. We’ll be guided in using embodiment and visionary storytelling to unpack issues of trauma, healing, power, privilege, social justice, and inequity in our communities. Drawing from a Theatre of the Oppressed pedagogy, we’ll creatively collaborate to conceive of new possibilities for testimony, empathy building and radical systems change. There will also be a performance by members of the Truthworker company of a few excerpts of their provocative trilogy depicting the prison industrial complex through the lens of a dozen youth impacted by mass incarceration.

Workshop Speakers

Samara Gaev

Samara Gaev, founder/Director of Truthworker Theatre Company and Senior Fellow in Program Design and Facilitation for Center for Whole Communities, is a New York-based activist, educator, facilitator, and performer whose work has taken her to many countries and around the U.S. using... Read More →

Sunday October 21, 2018 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

4:30pm PDT

Closure and Reflection | Youth Leadership

Youth have the opportunity to close out the Bioneers Conference in a meaningful way. It’s a moment to process emotions, questions, ideas and inspirations that have arisen over the course of the weekend, and to be better equipped to bring back what they’ve learned to their communities and social networks. Facilitated by Maya Carlson, Bioneers Youth Leadership Program Coordinator.

Workshop Speakers

Maya Carlson

Maya Carlson, the new coordinator/facilitator of Bioneers’ Youth Leadership Program, has an academic background in International Affairs and Anthropology and has worked in environmental education, regenerative agriculture, youth mentorship, community organizing, and social entrepreneurship... Read More →

Sunday October 21, 2018 4:30pm - 6:00pm PDT
Youth Unity Center

Youth Leadership