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EDITORIAL
Celebrating May Day All Month!
We celebrated International Workers' Day on May 1st!
May Day celebrates working people: Our strength, wisdom, and the loving care we practice for each other and our world. Honor the workers (enslaved and "free") who built this society and won our far-too-limited freedoms.
May Day...INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY... began LATE1800's in this country as part of the struggle for the eight-hour workday and in honor of those who died in that struggle. Let's reclaim that tradition.
Let's celebrate working people's power every May Day and discuss what we want. Let's gather for picnics to celebrate, play, and organize discussions with co-workers and workers: When working people reorganize human society, how do we want it to function? In whose best interest do we wish it to serve? Us workers and working-class people, of course!
Let's also begin to discuss what we should demand on 1 May 2028. The United Auto Workers invited unions in this country to align our union contracts to expire the day before that May Day so we ALL can --if we have to-- strike together for a big shared demand. What should we use that coordinated power to achieve? Let's also talk about how we engage and organize our community's workers who may not have unions, workplace organizations/working class community groups. What do we need and want?
It wouldn't hurt to have such workers' celebrations and discussions again four months later on Labor Day.
Share your thoughts with us!
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Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival
Saturday, May 18, 2024
1:00 PM-7:00 PM
Rock Quarry Park, 701 Stadium Drive, Durham
Enjoy a day filled with live music, arts and crafts, community resources, tasty traditional food, and local talent.
This family-oriented event is a celebration of African and African American history, culture, arts, and traditions. Visit the Bimbé History page for information on how the festival has evolved throughout the years.
Free parking will be available in the Durham County Stadium parking lots, located at 750 Stadium Drive across from Rock Quarry Park. New this year - the parking lot will only be accessible via Wisteria Avenue and Stadium Drive will be closed to thru traffic. Download a Bimbé Traffic Map (PDF).
Event Contact
For event information, email at Alison.Bender@durhamnc.gov, or call (919) 560-4355.
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FOLWCC Rentals
Need a special place for your special event?
The newly renovated Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center and the World Cultural Café are your place. The 2,000 sq. ft. World Cultural Center, with a big screen and surround sound theater, is the ideal intimate setting for:
- Graduation Parties & Game Nights
- Organizational & Business Meetings
- Classes, Seminars & Workshops
- Conferences
- Religious & Family Gatherings/ Reunions
- Bridal & Baby Showers
- Movie Screenings
- Receptions
- Gatherings for Watching Sports and Other Events
- Art Shows
- Small Concerts & Fundraisers
Rental form on website
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MAY 2024 CALENDAR OF EVENTS | |
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Saturday, May 11; 10-11:00 AM; FOLWCC Community Fitness Class for all levels: GET FIT taught by instructor Nate. Movement, light weights, and toning. Register at Eventbrite: Free Community Health & Fitness or RSVP by calling (919) 876-7187. Email Nathanette at nlmayo5@yahoo.com for more information. Classes are free, but your donation will help ensure this community program can continue throughout the year.
Friday – Sunday, May 17-19; Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble brings music that educates, inspires & activates to the Southern Workers Assembly 2024 Southern Worker School convening in Charlotte, NC; Rank & file workers in the South are building power on the job and developing assemblies are coming together to strategize, train and make plans to organize the unorganized by creating a broader workers movement during 2024 Southern Worker School. Register at https://southernworker.org/2024-register.
Thursday, May 23; 6-7:00 PM; Prevent Diabetes Culinary Program Series; presented by Eatwell Exchange at FOLWCC. This series includes both classroom and cooking instruction: 1/8, 2/1, 2/15, 2/29, 3/21, 4/18, 5/23; cooking instruction—1/25, 2/8, 2/22, 3/7, 3/21; 6/20 graduation (classroom and cooking, taught by a registered dietician). Contact Jasmine Westbrooks at Jasmine@eatwellexchange.org for more info.
Saturday, May 25; 10-11:00 AM; FOLWCC Community Fitness Class for all levels: TONE IT UP, taught by instructor Alexis. This workout focuses on low-impact, high-intensity movements designed to strengthen and tone. Register at Eventbrite: Free Community Health & Fitness or RSVP by calling (919) 876-7187. Email Nathanette at nlmayo5@yahoo.com for more information. Classes are free, but your donation will help ensure this community program can continue throughout the year.
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Dear musicians, singers, visual artists, poets, songwriters, audio/visual technicians, filmmakers, and socially conscious cultural worker activists.
We are looking for motivated cultural individuals who are eager to share their interests, skills, and talents and learn from seasoned cultural artists. The decades-old activist band "FRUIT OF LABOR SINGING ENSEMBLE"/FOL SE, the 25-year-old "FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER" /FOL WCC, and the renowned "BROKEN WINGS MUSIC GROUP" STUDIO/ PRODUCTIONS /BWMG have contributed to... creating a vibrant social justice movement and a "social justice movement building" Cultural Center!
We use music, art, poetry, film, book clubs, and more to build and drive organizations, labor unions, human rights movements, and workplace/community empowerment toward fundamental change in our local, regional, and national communities.
We want YOU to join us!
- Application by email, call, or letter deadline is March 15th!
Key Internship Details:
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Start Date: May 2024 (12 week internship)
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Compensation: $20 per hour, Bi-weekly or monthly stipend
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Location: FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER in Raleigh, BWMG Studio/production site, Remote work from home, with occasional in-person staff events and travel across the U.S.
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Equipment: Vehicle, accessible to public transportation, and we will provide a desktop or laptop computer and accessories, or interns can choose to use their computer. Interns need reliable Internet access that allows for regular participation in video meetings.
Please let us know your interests and contact us with any questions you may have. We are grateful for the FOL WCC team of people over the past 25 years who are voluntarily working to align our creative community cultural artists, activists, and tech folks with serving our working-class community's interest...as WE COLLECTIVELY are nurturing many community-based organizations' capacity to advance our vision of a stronger community and better world!
Email us at fruitoflaborwcc@netscape.com or call the office and leave your phone number and a message at (919) 876-7187.
INSPIRING, ENGAGING, EDUCATING AND LIBERATING
FRUIT OF LABOR WORLD CULTURAL CENTER
All-Volunteer TEAM
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MARK your Calendars for our 4:00 PM, Saturday, June 22nd
25th Fruit of Labor WorldCulturalCenter
40th Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble and our festive
JUNETEENTH 2024 CELEBRATION!
This FOLWCC "ONLY ON SUNDAY JAZZ SESSIONS" video featuring the talented and young Jazz Builds the 919 is now live! Feel free to share it anywhere you like, and thank you all again for participating. Here’s the direct link to the YouTube video: ComeHearNC: Jazz Builds the 919.
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General Baker on Solidarity | | | | |
