STAFF

Kevin Erickson, Co-Director: Programming

Kevin Erickson, 28, was studying religion and cultural politics at Whitman College in tiny Walla Walla, Washington, when he discovered the Pacific Northwest's vibrant underground music scene and fell stupidly in love with the radical potential of incubating DIY cultural resistance in small communities. Before AMP, he spent almost 3 years as part of a team of artists, musicians, and friends running a unique arts infrastructure called Department of Safety. The facility is housed in Anacortes, Washington's old fire & police station and contains an all-ages music venue, gallery, recording facilities, art studios, and zine library. He is active as a writer, recording engineer, and musician, with one recent collaboration touted as “intermittently tolerable" by Pitchfork.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Shannon Stewart,

Caught in between the music industry and grass roots organizing, in 2001, Shannon co-founded the Vera Project, an all-ages music community center in Seattle, WA and continued to explore blending community organizing models with what she know the most about – shows. She's now based out of the bay area and spends lots of time looking for awesome spaces in unexpected places. She regularly practices hand stands and strives to master the windmill. She realizes that anyone with DIY or similar anti-establishment values could be skeptical of this project. She hopes you’ll get in touch anyway. shannon(at)allagesmovementproject.org

Diaris Alexander, Los Angeles, CA

Hip Hop Chair for the Local chapter of the Hip Hop Congress (UCLA)
www.hiphopcongress.com
Diaris, originally from Oakland, CA, has a strong dedication to uplifting her community. She credits dance, hip hop, and writing lyrics, with providing an outlet for her expression while simultaneously maintaining her sanity and reducing stress. She is very passionate about youth and the performing arts. Diaris was drawn to become a part of the All-ages Movement Project because of her involvement with Youth Movement Records, a youth-run record label and development organization. The research project gives her the unprecedented opportunity to discover and participate in a nation-wide youth-driven effort to make a change in society. Diaris is extremely determined to make an impact on the world. A Jackie Robinson and Gates Millennium Scholar at UCLA, Diaris obtained her B.A. in 2009 and is participating in the Teach For America program.

David Gonzales, Chicago, IL

Glencoe Center
David Hommy Gonzalez is an artist / instructor / sound engineer / social activist who worked as program director for AS220 Broad Street Studio, a youth arts non-profit located in Providence, RI. During his time there, he developed the "Rhodeshow," a Hip-Hop performing arts project that taught young people how to perform, book, and market their socially conscious art. Over a five year period, David and the Rhodeshow project have performed over 300 times and have traveled to various conferences, universities and like minded organizations across the country to share their use of Hip-Hop as an educational tool and help cultivate relationships within community. With the aid of Rhode Island's 21st Century Community Learning Centers, David also developed a workshop called “Thinking Outside The Turntable” directed towards secondary and post-secondary educators on the history of Hip-Hop, its evolving culture, and how to integrate the art in the classroom. Since, January 2009, David now lives in Chicago, IL where he is continuing to teach arts workshops.

Katy Otto, Washington DC

Positive Force
www.positiveforcedc.org
KKaty Otto is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of the National Abortion Federation and the former Development Director at Men Can Stop Rape. Ms. Otto has ten years of experience in fundraising for violence prevention, women's issues, youth development, and arts organizations. She graduated from University of Maryland, College Park and later became certified through the University of Indiana School of Fundraising. She has a Master's in Nonprofit Management from Trinity University. She has done contract development work creating grassroots fundraising plans and authoring proposals for social justice organizations nationally. She runs her own independent record label Exotic Fever Records and has given workshops on such diverse topics as direct action around issues of violence against women, community response to sexual assault, animal abuse and partner violence, punk rock activism, and women and girls in music. Ms. Otto has toured the country several times playing drums in her former band Del Cielo. She is currently working on two new bands, Helsinki and Trophy Wife. She co-founded the national Visions in Feminism conference. She has been a member for over twelve years of the group Positive Force DC, a volunteer punk collective that organizes concerts and events for social change and plans community actions..

Chris Wiltsee, Oakland, CA

Youth Movement Records
www.youthmovementrecords.org
Chris has worked for more than 12 years developing innovative community-based projects and arts organizations for youth in the non-profit sector. Chris is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Movement Records (YMR), a non-profit youth-run recording company and youth development program in Oakland, California, and is a co-founder of the AMP Network (All-Ages Movement Project), which is developing a national resource for the rapidly emerging youth-media field. Prior to launching YMR, Chris served as the Program Director to the Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor’s Teen Center from 1998 to 2002. He sits on the San Francisco Recording Academy’s Education Committee and the San Francisco Carnival Entertainment Committee. Chris has recently helped develop an consultancy called The Blink Tank that is committed to helping mission-based organizations develop and thrive. Chris received his masters degree from the University of Michigan and undergraduate degree in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz.

George Wietor, Grand Rapids, MI

Division Avenue Arts Cooperative
www.thedaac.org
George Wietor is a principal organizer of the Division Avenue Arts Cooperative (DAAC) a collectively run music and arts venue, co-founder of the G-RAD online community and NEST collaborative workspace, and the Portable Cinema project. George is a Nonprofit Administration graduate student at Grand Valley State University. He has lived in Grand Rapids since 1984, and grew up in the South East End.

BIG UPS

AMP Contributors: Mark Ristaino, Zack Rosen, Nica Lorber, Claudia Bach, Lori Roddy, Gavin Leonard, Emily Finkel, Kameron Mitchell Moore, Joshua Powell, Annie Sartor, Megan Wurster, Jessalyn Aaland, Molly Neitzel, James Keblas, Jessamyn Sabbag, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, James Kass, Sarina Roscigno, Erin Potts, Deydon Tethong, The Rappaport Family Foundation, Skyline Public Works, all the orgs that contributed information thus far and all the ones that will in the future.

SITE CREDITS

Andrio Abero designs

This beautiful website is his. Designer for the Music Underground. www.33rpmdesign.com

Chapter Three LLC executes

Industry leaders in grassroots organizing through web communities and open-source web technology. Drupal Ninjas that make sites work. chapterthreellc.com.