BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Cropper Foundation - ECPv6.16.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:The Cropper Foundation X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://thecropperfoundation.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Cropper Foundation REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241118 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241119 DTSTAMP:20260604T000912 CREATED:20221011T172632Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250423T122912Z UID:1915-1731888000-1731974399@thecropperfoundation.org SUMMARY:Today Today Congotay! A Preview Of Writing For Our Lives DESCRIPTION:Today Today\, Congotay!\nA preview of Writing For Our Lives\nCo-edited by Diana McCaulay and Shivanee Ramlochan \nThe Cropper Foundation\, with funding support from Open Society Foundations\, launched the preview of the Caribbean Climate Justice anthology\, Writing For Our Lives on November 18 at the CARICOM Pavillion at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference held in Baku\, Azerbaijan. \n \n \n Download PDF\n \nPublished by Peekash Press\, the preview presents the thoughtfully curated sample e-book comprising six pieces from as many Caribbean writers across fiction\, poetry and creative non-fiction\, along with a stirring introduction by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell. \nThis electronic sample features pieces from the following writers: \n\nAnika Christopher\, British Virgin Islands\nBrendon Alekseii\, Trinidad & Tobago\nDreylan Johnson\, Guyana\nKevin Jared Hosein\, Trinidad & Tobago\nSharma Taylor\, Jamaica\nSonia Farmer\, The Bahamas\n\n\n \n Sharma Taylor \n\n \n Dreylan Johnson \n\n \n Kevin Jared Hosein \n\n \n Sonia Farmer \n\n \n Anika M. Christopher \n\n \n Brendon Alekseii \nHere’s a taste of each of the six pieces (across fiction\, creative non-fiction and poetry) presented in the Writing For Our Lives preview!\nVideo\nA visual interpretation of an excerpt from Sonia Farmer’s poem\, I HEAR IT SING IN THE WIND. Read by the author.\nA visual interpretation of an excerpt from Anika Christopher’s poem\, TANTE TELLS A STORY. Read by the author. \nAudio\nAn excerpt from a reading of Brendon Alekseii’s essay\, US POLLUTED IN TURN. Read by Wendell Manwarren.\nhttps://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Wendell-Sound-Design-MSTR.mp3\nAn excerpt from a reading of Dreylan Johnson’s essay\, THE GHOSTS ARE TRAPPED INDOORS WITH US. Read by Ruth Osman.\nhttps://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Ruth-Sound-Design-MSTR.mp3\nAn excerpt from a reading of Kevin Jared Hosein’s story\, THE SCRIPT. Read by the author.\nhttps://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Kevin-Sound-Design-Part-1-MSTR.mp3\nAn excerpt from a reading of Sharma Taylor’s story\, ORE. Read by Marlon James. \n https://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Marlon-Sound-Design-MSTR.mp3\n \n What is the project about?\n \n \n Why The Cropper Foundation?\n \n \n What is climate justice?\n \n \n Publication credits\n \nWriting for Our Lives was conceived as an anthology of stories illuminating the urgency of the climate crisis for people and communities of Caribbean states marked by their varied yet substantial vulnerabilities. These stories will consider the implications for the health\, livelihoods\, culture\, heritage\, and well-being of the many who go unseen\, unheard and\, ultimately\, unaccounted for in the decision-making of those with power\, purveyors of our collective resources.   \nThe anthology will be published through the Trinidad and Tobago-based imprint Peekash Press\, producing an initial e-book for international release at the annual landmark climate conference\, COP29 in November 2024. A regional launch of print and audio publications will follow in the first quarter of 2025.   \nToday Today\, Congotay! \n“Who cyah hear go feel” is a loose translation of the colloquial Caribbean exhortation  “One day\, One day\, Congotay!”To register the real\, present\, existential threat of the climate fallout\, The Cropper Foundation has adapted it to title the series of climate justice\, multi-media arts-based interventions being rolled out over the period 2023-2026\, with funding from Open Society Foundations. \nWriting For Our Lives is the second strand in the Today Today\, Congotay! project. It follows the pilot of a climate justice community micro-theatre undertaking in 2023\, executed in collaboration with the Brazil and Williamsville Secondary Schools. \nThe project builds on the legacy of founders John and Angela Cropper’s vision for a seminal environment for the strengthening and exploration of Caribbean identity through literature. Beginning in 2000\, the same year the Foundation was registered\, the Cropper Writing Residency was one of the first ventures of the newly formed non-profit.   \nThrough its fifteen (ten adult and five teenaged) residential three-week workshops to date\, led by award-winning writers Funso Aiyejina and Merle Hodge\, the programme has helped mold over 180 Caribbean writers from almost every country in the anglophone Caribbean.   \nMany of these writers have gone on to publish with some earning major regional and global literary distinctions and accolades – among them\, Jamaican Kei Miller and TT authors Ayanna Lloyd-Banwo\, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune and Barbara Jenkins.   \nClimate justice intertwines human rights and development\, prioritising a people-centered approach. It aims to protect the most vulnerable and ensure fairness in sharing both the burdens and benefits of climate change. Grounded in science\, it recognises the necessity of equitable management of global resources. Climate justice underscores the unequal distribution and impacts of climate change\, stemming from historical and systemic factors. It advocates for inclusive and nuanced strategies in global climate action\, addressing underlying inequities. By acknowledging disparities and promoting fairness\, climate justice strives for a world where all individuals can thrive amidst environmental challenges. \nAnthology editors and publication illustrator / cover artist\nCo-Editors: Diana McCaulay and Shivanee Ramlochan. \nOriginal Editor: Funso Aiyejina. \nThe cover image is a detail of original artwork by artist Jaidn Bain commissioned for the Writing For Our Lives project. \nPublished for The Cropper Foundation by Peekash Press \nISBN 978-976-96854-5-1 \n \n \nJaidn Bain\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nDiana McCaulay\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nShivanee Ramlochan\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nFunso Aiyejina\nTrinidad & Tobago\nWriting for Our Lives was conceived as an anthology of stories illuminating the urgency of the climate crisis for people and communities of Caribbean states marked by their varied yet substantial vulnerabilities. These stories will consider the implications for the health\, livelihoods\, culture\, heritage\, and well-being of the many who go unseen\, unheard and\, ultimately\, unaccounted for in the decision-making of those with power\, purveyors of our collective resources.   \nThe anthology will be published through the Trinidad and Tobago-based imprint Peekash Press\, producing an initial e-book for international release at the annual landmark climate conference\, COP29 in November 2024. A regional launch of print and audio publications will follow in the first quarter of 2025.   \nToday Today\, Congotay! \n“Who cyah hear go feel” is a loose translation of the colloquial Caribbean exhortation  “One day\, One day\, Congotay!”To register the real\, present\, existential threat of the climate fallout\, The Cropper Foundation has adapted it to title the series of climate justice\, multi-media arts-based interventions being rolled out over the period 2023-2026\, with funding from Open Society Foundations. \nWriting For Our Lives is the second strand in the Today Today\, Congotay! project. It follows the pilot of a climate justice community micro-theatre undertaking in 2023\, executed in collaboration with the Brazil and Williamsville Secondary Schools. \nThe project builds on the legacy of founders John and Angela Cropper’s vision for a seminal environment for the strengthening and exploration of Caribbean identity through literature. Beginning in 2000\, the same year the Foundation was registered\, the Cropper Writing Residency was one of the first ventures of the newly formed non-profit.   \nThrough its fifteen (ten adult and five teenaged) residential three-week workshops to date\, led by award-winning writers Funso Aiyejina and Merle Hodge\, the programme has helped mold over 180 Caribbean writers from almost every country in the anglophone Caribbean.   \nMany of these writers have gone on to publish with some earning major regional and global literary distinctions and accolades – among them\, Jamaican Kei Miller and TT authors Ayanna Lloyd-Banwo\, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune and Barbara Jenkins.   \nClimate justice intertwines human rights and development\, prioritising a people-centered approach. It aims to protect the most vulnerable and ensure fairness in sharing both the burdens and benefits of climate change. Grounded in science\, it recognises the necessity of equitable management of global resources. Climate justice underscores the unequal distribution and impacts of climate change\, stemming from historical and systemic factors. It advocates for inclusive and nuanced strategies in global climate action\, addressing underlying inequities. By acknowledging disparities and promoting fairness\, climate justice strives for a world where all individuals can thrive amidst environmental challenges. \nAnthology editors and publication illustrator / cover artist\nCo-Editors: Diana McCaulay and Shivanee Ramlochan. \nOriginal Editor: Funso Aiyejina. \nThe cover image is a detail of original artwork by artist Jaidn Bain commissioned for the Writing For Our Lives project. \nPublished for The Cropper Foundation by Peekash Press \nISBN 978-976-96854-5-1 \n \n \nJaidn Bain\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nDiana McCaulay\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nShivanee Ramlochan\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nFunso Aiyejina\nTrinidad & Tobago\n \nThe ‘Today\, Today Congotay!’ programme is supported through funding from Open Society Foundations. URL:https://thecropperfoundation.org/event/today-today-congotay/ CATEGORIES:NGO ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/wfol-06.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231118T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231118T190000 DTSTAMP:20260604T000912 CREATED:20250123T223711Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250423T093335Z UID:4139-1700265600-1700334000@thecropperfoundation.org SUMMARY:Today Today Congotay! A Climate Justice Micro-Theatre Festival DESCRIPTION:Recap of Climate Justice micro-theatre festival\nEnjoy this recap of the pioneering climate justice micro-theatre festival in 2023\, the first strand of Today Today\, Congotay! It involved researching\, interpreting and dramatising real-life stories of climate impacts from surrounding communities. \n\n\n\n\n\n  \nThe Climate Justice-themed Micro-Theatre Festival\, TODAY TODAY\, CONOGOTAY! will present up to ten micro-theatre plays that centre climate justice issues by highlighting climate change-related stories and concerns of often overlooked communities and the most vulnerable within them. \nThe Cropper Foundation (TCF)\, an award-winning 23-year-old TT-based Non-Profit Organisation working in sustainable development\, and the Micro-Theatre Festival of Trinidad and Tobago (MTFTT)\, the premier short-form theatrical experience\, have partnered to amplify the voices of rural communities impacted by climate change. This project is the first in a series of climate justice-themed\, arts-based initiatives to be led by TCF over the period 2023-2026\, with support from the Open Society Foundations. \nMicro-Theatre is a powerful storytelling format that consists of repeat performances of short\, punchy\, thought-provoking productions staged simultaneously to intimate audiences at 15-minute intervals over several hours. \nAt its core\, the concept of climate justice aims to connect the climate crisis to the social and environmental issues in which it is deeply entangled\, and to build awareness of the need for just division and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change. \nThe CONGOTAY Festival is the culmination of three months of working closely with the Williamsville and Brazil Secondary Schools and communities to bring together theatre and climate advocacy\, sourcing (story) material as well as actors and other resources from neighbouring communities. We are proud to present these schools as the Festival host-venues in their respective communities. \n \nPerformance Synopsis\n\nPlay 1: Justice? – Eric Barry \n\n\nA woman living in Greenvale whose home and life was devastated by the great flood of 2018 recounts to terror she experienced during the flood and the horrors she faced in the aftermath. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 2: Heat in the Market – Eric Barry \n\n\n\n\nThe extremely high temperature not only affects crop yield\, it causes a customer’s temper to rise as she quarrels with vendors in the market about the price of tomatoes. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 3: Midday Robber – Rhesa Samuel \n\n\n\n\nIn the streets of Brazil\, what was once a playground for children and a marketplace for bountiful crops is now governed by a scorching villain. This serial stinger leaves the streets empty\, as he robs children of hopscotch\, scootch and marble pitch. He steals money from the villagers’ pockets\, drying up the goods they depend on for money. Even though people are petrified to step foot outside\, how far are they willing to go for Brazil to be free of the MIDDAY ROBBER. \n\n\n\n\nWith heat as the antagonist\, this musical piece aims to highlight some of the effects\, causes and possible solutions regarding climate change. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 4: The Assignment – Albert Smith \n\n\n\n\nTwo high school students have a deadline to submit their “last chance-at-a-grade” school assignment about climate change\, with the aid of the most powerful AI\, you think they’ll ace it? \n\n\n\n\nPlay 5: Vessigny 2049 – Albert Smith \n\n\n\n\nIt’s 25 years in the future\, and the population of Vessigny has had enough of the pollution created by a chemical plant called VesChemCo\, so a popular leader decides to do something towards bringing the culprit to justice. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 6: An Untold Story – Arnetia Thomas \n\n\n\n\nThis is the story of the psychological damage that has been done to those affected by the 2019 flood in Greenvale\, due to the ignorance of others and the forces of nature. We see Man\, who has personally experienced the flood\, sitting in his living room reading. All of sudden\, rain begins pouring the same way it did on that day and it brings back memories. As the rain continues to fall he tells us his story of what happened and how it affected him and his family \n\n\n\n\nPlay 7: Me and Mr Capybara – Shania Mark \n\n\n\n\nA farmer Lady struggling to reap a harvest in the midst of a drought meets a personified Capybara who informs her of the ways of man and the impact on the environment. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 8: A Wave of Emotion – Shania Mark \n\n\n\n\nChristy\, a survivor of the Great Greenvale flood of 2018 still suffers the effects and trauma from the experience of losing it all including her unborn child. She relives the events of the flood while discussing her fears of heavy rainfall with her husband who is trying to move past the tragic events. Simultaneously on the other side of the wall\, we meet a politician who addresses the situation with promises and pledge but we can see that all those promises are empty. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 9: THE PROTECTOR – Written and Directed by Ambika Ramdass \n\n\n\n\nA young man\, fascinated by the legend of Papa Bois\, experiences a clash between childhood optimism and adulthood responsibilities as the oil and gas industry encroaches into his rural\, childhood village. He must grapple with his changing perspectives and the world he leaves behind.  This piece examines issues of intergenerational equity and personal responsibility by offering a look into the past\, present and future. In this climate crisis\, who is “The Protector”? \n\n\n\n\nPlay 10: CLIMATE CHANGE\, NO CAP – Written and Directed by Ambika Ramdass \n\n\n\n\nInspired by a capy-omen\, the capybara society fed up with over-exploitation and climatic changes strike back against humankind. Chewbara\, a cap-onstable in the capy-police force faces a crisis of conscience when he is reminded of the truth of his past. “Climate Change\, No Cap” asks “What is Climate Justice?” in a world where changing climate drives resource scarcity and puts different communities at odds. \n\n\n\n\nPlay 11: A CAUSE OF ACTION OR A TRINIBAD ELEGY ON CLIMATE CHANGE – written by Brendon Alekseii and edited and directed by Marcus Waldron \n\n\n\n\nCounsellor Peters and Doctor Singh are the lone representatives for communities affected by climate change. Their call for climate justice is an uphill legal battle for these ravaged communities against a government minister and a vacationing corporate entity that is attempting to hold a country’s future to ransom. \n\n\n\n\nFor more information\, please email outreach@thecropperfoundation.org or call (868)221-5751.You can also visit The Cropper Foundation and the Micro-Theatre Festival of Trinidad and Tobago on all social media platforms. URL:https://thecropperfoundation.org/event/today-today-congotay-2023/ LOCATION:Brazil Secondary School CATEGORIES:NGO ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://thecropperfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/TODAY-TODAY-Facebook-Cover-3.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR