“This is why folks are scared of poets!” is what the emcee of the Raise the Wage rally says at the end of this performance back in January 2015. And for good reason.
BBOI worked with the talented Mayda Del Valle recently to set off an amazing spoken word performance here for the LA Raise The Wage rally. Fusing her dynamic instincts and flow with key communication points and research about the lives of Angelenos living on minimum wage, a new poem was produced “Keep LA Beautiful.” More polished and produced video material was contemplated but here is a good one-take, raw clip of it live, as it should be experienced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aF-ULo7ytA.
If there was an applaud-o-meter, we think its safe to say Mayda would have pushed the needle off the charts. It was great to collaborate with her in this way and contribute a soulfulness to this amazing campaign that wants to uplift the lives of 800,000 workers in the city of Los Angeles.
This was one aspect of work Big Bowl of Ideas proudly contributed to the campaign in a creative fashion.
Proof positive of the power of spoken word and other performance arts. There was also an amazing performance of a hip-hop song called “Raise the Wage” by another collaborator, actor Damian Washington who had released this music video of that song earlier last fall (as some of you know). Both moved the crowd.
The LA City Council took a major step in lifting workers out of poverty with a vote in June to raise the minimum wage to $15. LA County Board of Supervisors recently adopted a similar measure.
BBOI also created these stickers that were in sync with the poem’s title
