Live & Local: Summer Solstice Gathering on 6/22

Transcript

Steve: You see? The vibe just doesn't happen. It's just not automatic. There's things that go into it to make the vibe strong, and that's what we're going to find out about. Some folks are getting together to help make the vibe happen this weekend in line with the summer solstice. And I have to get the name of this event correct. So I'm going to lean on the experts in the room. Kayla Marque is here from Bodies of Culture. Good morning.

Kayla: Good morning.

Steve: Sedona Allen Moreno joins us as well from Eye for Prevention and great to have you with us here at KUVO.

Sedona: Thank you. Happy to be here. Buenos días a todos.

Steve: Exactly. Now, let's talk about this event coming up on Sunday at the RiNo Art Park. It involves music and there's a fair vibe and some Tai Chi, I'm trying to get healthy. So tell us what's it called?

Kayla: Yeah, so this is the Summer Solstice Gathering. It's taking place in RiNo Art Park on Sunday, June 22nd from 1-5 PM. It's a free community event for all ages.

Steve: And it involves, I guess this kind of sprang out of something that happened a couple of months ago at the spring equinox. Obviously the next step is the summer solstice.

Kayla: Exactly. I think both Bodies of Culture and Eye for Prevention both share a foundation of understanding the importance of gathering during seasonal shifts and changes and coming together to honor that and bring in the new season with gratitude and community.

Steve: A free outdoor celebration of creativity, culture, and connection happening over at RiNo Art Park, which is on 35th, a couple of blocks off of Brighton, like right on the banks of the South Platte.

Kayla Marque: That's right. By the Bob Ragland Library branch.

Steve: Okay. Alright. Now we know the healing force of music. Kayla's one of our teachers, she's one of our guidance counselors.

Kayla: Opener of Portals is back.

Steve: So then tell me how you're able to partner up and bring some other ways we can become healthy to this event happening on Sunday.

Sedona: Yes, absolutely. One thing that we value is the power of intergenerational connection. So through Eye for Prevention, Eye stands for "Engaging Youth Expertise". So we really want to empower our young leaders. Our youth are not just the future, they're the right now. So how can we invest in them and create spaces where they're learning from their elders, from trusted adults and know that they're not alone in these struggles that we are facing. We uplift a lot of holistic healing through taking action with our overdose prevention and harm reduction. Really empowering our young leaders to tap into their strengths and provide different culturally relevant healing modalities that can activate their minds, bodies, and spirits as a collective. So we really are excited to come together. We've loved partnering with Bodies of Culture to create these safe and powerful spaces of connection.

Steve: You might say it's a pop-up, but you'd actually like to establish something, like you said, for the seasonal moments.

Kayla: And this is our inaugural event. This is our pilot that we're about to launch, but the hopes is that we'll have this partnership with RiNo Art Park to make it an annual event and we'll just grow it over the years and it'll be a portal for people to come and connect with the local artists. We're going to have vendors that have crafts and apparel and food and baked goods, and we're also going to have a healing tent that offers massages and things like that. And so yeah, we just want this thing to kind of snowball a little bit to evolve and grow.

Abi: I really appreciate this aspect of connection, especially in our current times. It's important to be together and I see some familiar organizations or folks in the community doing great things like Off the Cuff, Emanuel and Meadowlark, they'll be providing the music.

Kayla: Yes, yes. And EMAN and I play music together, but his Off the Cuff project is an intentional jam that features some of the best musicians in the city. So they will be our featured musical act.

Abi: Yes. And then I see Dreamcreateinspire, another one of those organizations that are reaching to the younger generation and creating that connection. They're going to be doing something as well.

Kayla Marque: Yes. And one of the founders of DCI is actually on the BoC board, Destiny, and so they're going to be doing a creative interactive workshop in the Truss House.

Steve: I saw an item on here too about custom t-shirt making.

Kayla: Yes.

Steve: Which I get t-shirt ideas every day, Steve, so I might run over there and get a couple prototypes made.

Kayla:So we've got Lawrence and Larimer, which is a local business located on Colfax. JC, who is the owner of that, he is going to be taking our Bodies of Culture t-shirts, which we will be selling that day, the proceeds will go to support our mentorship program that starts in the fall, and then you can customize that with his screen printing.

Abi: Can you talk a little bit about Bodies of Culture just in case people have not come across your organization yet?

Kayla: Of course. Yeah. Bodies of Culture is a program of Levitt Pavilion Denver. We are a board of gigging musicians creating and advocating for equity within our music ecosystem here in Denver. So we have year round programming that includes an open mic every second Thursday at Manos Sagrados. We do community gatherings like the Summer Solstice that's coming up. And then we have our mentorship program that's a six month program for young aspiring artists and industry professionals, aged 18 to 25. And our newest thing that I haven't even spoke about yet is our podcast.

Carlos: Getting ready to take it around the globe.

Kayla: Yeah. Yeah. We'll be interviewing and featuring artists of all types, not just music and talking about the creative process and flow. And so that's called Third Iris, and that is coming soon, hosted by Bruce Trujillo.

Steve: Also in studio, Sedona Allen Moreno a little bit on Eye for Prevention, because usually music brings people in, but I'm encouraged that young folks are really more aware of the things we put into our bodies, more aware of organic foods, more aware of healthy practices. Back in the day, Carlos might remember, we were pretty self-abusive sometimes. It's like, what kind of trouble can I put my body through? And you guys are on the other tip in terms of how good can I be in sustaining healthy living?

Sedona: Yes, absolutely. So Eye for Prevention is housed within the Public Health Institute at Denver Health. And the Eye stands for "Engaging Youth Expertise" because we know our young people are the experts of what's going on in their schools, their communities, and they have so many innovative ideas on how to be the change that they want to see in the world. And we focus specifically on mental health and substance misuse prevention, and healing really through a holistic trauma-informed lens. Understanding that the struggle is real, but so is our strength. So how can we uplift those strengths within our youth, within all of us as a community. We talk a lot about connection being the opposite of addiction, whether that's connection to yourself, your spirit, connection to the earth, connection to arts and creativity, and connection with each other in community. So we're really trying to uplift these different avenues of connection to really help people thrive and help them be their healthiest self. We talk about giving youth opportunities to be stronger without substances by recognizing their own inner light, and we also meet young people where they're at. We know that sometimes young people are going to experiment or use different substances. So we also provide overdose prevention training and teach young people how to use Naloxone or Narcan to reverse an overdose and save lives as well as other harm reduction tools and resources in the community that can keep them safe and healthy. Because what truly matters is keeping our young people alive so that they can continue to be that light for others.

Steve: What an awesome project. The Summer Solstice gathering is Sunday, the 22nd from one to five at RiNo Art Park, which is just a couple blocks off of Brighton there at 35th. So coming up quick, and thanks to Kayla Marque and Sedona Allen Moreno from Bodies of Culture and Eye for Prevention, making it happen in the city.

Kayla: Yes, thank you for having us. And you'll have one of your own, Tree King will be at the event emceeing.

Steve: Oh, there you go.

Abi: Let me shout out your websites too. So bodiesofculture.co and strongerwithout.com to stay connected with your programming.

Sedona: Yes. Follow us on Instagram @eyeforprevention, @bodiesofculture, tap in and stay updated to all of the other events and offerings that we're going to continue to bring to community. We're so excited to see everyone on Sunday and really kick off the summer solstice, honor this changing of the season, the longest day of the year and come together with love and unity.