Kurdish Youth Festival: Many Voices; One Cause

Contact: Kurdish Youth Festival Committee

Website: www.kurdishyouthfestival.org

Email: kurdyouthfestival@gmail.com

MANY VOICES; ONE CAUSE

For the Third Consecutive Year, the Kurdish Youth Festival Will Become the Biggest and Best Avenue to Connect Kurdish Youth from Coast to Coast

Hailed as the only gathering of its kind in the United States, the third Kurdish Youth Festival is scheduled to, once again, deliver an unforgettable experience. The upcoming 2012 festival will take place in the Nation’s Capital, Washington, DC, on January 6^th-8^th and is promising to be the most exciting festival yet.

A youth-led coalition from various backgrounds have come together to form this year’s event coordinating committee. This group of young Kurdish men and women are determined to make the third Kurdish youth festival an enriching experience with a profoundly positive impact on the attendees.

The festival will feature scholarships, meet and greet opportunities, educational panels, discussion groups, and interactive workshops. All this is in addition to the festivals most talked about signature events: “Kurds Got Talent,” visual art competitions, and a celebration finale complete with live music and traditional dance. As in previous years, notable figures, authors, human rights activists, NGO leaders, and International artists are expected to be in attendance. This event will also provide a chance for sponsors and scholars from across the globe to make a lasting network with active Kurdish-American youth.

In an interview during the last Kurdish youth festival, a first time attendee said: “I walked into the hotel lobby in Dallas and heard a group of young guys and girls speaking Kurdish. I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I felt more at “home” during those three days than any other time and have made friendships that will last a lifetime. I encourage everyone to come to next year’s festival.”

Established to showcase, promote, and raise awareness about Kurdish culture, the festival aims to cultivate the talents and abilities of young Kurds in the United States while encouraging community participation. Today, it also serves as an annual reunion for old friends and a perfect platform for new connections.

The third annual Kurdish Youth Festival is in the planning stages, and final programming will be released in the following months.

To become a sponsor of this event or to receive more information, contact the organizing committee: kurdyouthfestival@gmail.com.

Kurdish Youth of America to Host Second Annual Kurdish Youth Festival

You may know that we, the Kurdish youth of North America, have a vibrant and active community. You may even know that in the US, we’ve hosted numerous gatherings, including Newroz celebrations, festivals, conferences, picnics, educational seminars, fashion shows, dance exhibitions and other cultural events. In fact, we even came together to launch a very successful Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

Each year since 2007, we’ve also held an annual conference. In 2010, we launched our First Annual Kurdish Youth Festival from January 15-17. Thanks to the excitement and funds these conferences generate, we’ve been able to expand our impact through a wide variety of outreach programs, events and volunteer opportunities every year. All of these activities have been specifically designed to educate and inspire our guests to better function, organize and mobilize within their communities.

Coming up next, from January 7-9, 2011, we will be hosting our largest, most exciting event ever! The Second Annual Kurdish Youth Festival promises to be a truly unforgettable experience. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Kurdish American Youth Organization (KAYO), Kurdish Youth Club (KYC) and California Kurdish Cultural (Community) Center, this three-day festival will feature a wide variety of programs, including inspirational and thought-provoking guest speakers, amazing musicians, artists and performers, debates and roundtable and panel discussions. Guests will have the opportunity to participate in workshops and seminars on an even wider variety of topics, such as Kurdish film, literature, music, history, language, dance, human rights, Kurdish women’s issues, health, politics, community organization and mobilization, society, current events, and entrepreneurship (wow, that was a mouthful). Getting excited yet? Wait, it gets better…

Back for its second year will be our most popular event, “Kurds Got Talent”. This delightful display will showcase the unique, diverse and amazing talents of our youth and is open for all to participate. All guests are welcome to participate and prizes will be awarded to the top performers. The last show was so successful, we just couldn’t imagine doing next year’s festival without another one!

Finally, we are deeply honored to announce that educational scholarships will be provided to two lucky Kurdish students during the festival, one boy and one girl. After all, Kurdish youth deserve access to a good education. With that education, we are sure to become the next generation of political leaders, teachers, scientists, mathematicians, doctors, engineers, writers, artists, activists, make vast contributions to our local communities and ultimately shape the future of Kurdistan.

That’s where you come in. Wondering how this affects you? Well, we hope you will all make every effort to attend, of course! We can’t have the biggest Kurdish Youth Festival ever without you! But in order to make this festival a success and set the stage for another year of expanded outreach and programming, we need the generous support of people just like you!

The bottom line is, we need to raise $10,000 by November 2010 in order to cover all of the festival-related expenses.

You are probably thinking, “That is a lot of money…where does it all go?” It’s pretty simple, really. We need to pay for the conference hall, provide honorarium, transportation and lodging for our guest speakers and performers, cover costs of advertising and ticketing, sound and lighting equipment, catering, DJ, film crew, tables, chairs, party decorations, signage, prizes for our contest winners and last but not least, we want to provide the maximum scholarship amount possible to our two lucky students. It’s easy to see how these things can really add up and we just can’t do it without you!

No donation is too large or too small! Every dollar counts! Of course, all donations are tax deductible and we’ll provide you with a receipt for your taxes, too! Please take this opportunity to make a contribution in any amount and most of all, we hope to see you there!

For more information about the Second Annual Kurdish Youth Festival or for directions and accommodations, please visit our website at www.kurdishyouthfestival.org.

Kurdish Youth Festival/ فێستیڤاڵی لاوانی کورد/ Festîvala Kurdî

KYC's 1^st Kurdish Festival

Atlanta GA January 15-17, 2010

3 Days of Nonstop learning and fun

Kurdish Festival is a celebration of Kurdish Heritage in the United States. The festival will stretch a span of three days. During which, Kurds and non-Kurds, from a variety of backgrounds and across the U.S. will gather in Atlanta, Georgia. The festival will take place during the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on January 15, 16, and 17, 2010.

Kurdish Festival will be a gathering to celebrate a heritage that has taken over 8000 years in making. During which many aspects of Kurdish life will be brought to light; from Kurdish film, literature, music, history, dance, and current events. The Festival will also include self-building workshops in leadership, fundraising and conflict management.

For the first time, Kurdish Festival will bring together education and entertainment and set a new standard. The festival will entertain with three evenings of music, dance and party; featuring popular Kurdish singers and musicians. In addition, it will conduct two full days of workshops and trainings.

In a segment titled Kurds Got Talent, Kurdish Festival will host the largest talent show across U.S. In which a variety of talents will compete. The competition is open to all. Many Kurdish singers will be invited to perform live and compete for the title of first Kurdish Singer of 2010 in US. Kurds Got Talent will be a display of many different aspects of Kurdish culture from its beautiful traditional clothes to variety of poetry and modern songs, acting, and comedy. The top three talents will be awarded accordingly. Please help us identify potential talents in your community by contacting us at kurdish.youth.club@gmail.com.

The educational component of the festival will include key figures in modern Kurdish politics, music, history and literature. Attendees will be able to hear from those that have influenced lives of Kurds either directly or indirectly. A different aspect of the festival will expand to include small sized workshops that will help the youth and attendees to better function, organize and plan back in their own local organizations. Self-building workshops will be about fundraising, conflict management and leadership. They will be followed by discussion groups on many aspect of Kurdish life such as history, current events, and literature.

During the three days of nonstop learning and fun, Kurdish Festival will start a tradition of celebration of Kurdish Heritage in the United States. We invite you’re your friends, and family to join us on this important event. We will be honored with your support and presence.

Kurdish festival is being organized by the members and friends of Kurdish Youth Club (KYC). A 501(c)3 non-profit and independent Kurdish youth organization dedicated to promoting Kurdish Culture and advocating for the youth. For more information please visit our website.

For discounted hotel rooms click here!

Yekemîn Festîvala Kurdî a KYC

فێستیڤاڵی لاوانی کورد

KAYO and Gift of Hope Overseas Request for donations to bring medical help to people in the Kurdish region of Turkey.

KURDISH AMERICAN YOUTH ORGANIZATION (KAYO) and Gift of Hope Overseas Request for donations to bring medical help to people in the Kurdish region of Turkey. Please help raise money, you can donate online, and your donation is tax deductible! Click here to donate!