The award-winning Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) will be performing on the UNSW Library Lawn on 17 July.
Fifty children from Boston will sing with two choirs from UNSW Sydney to begin a day of activities to celebrate the achievements and activism of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
The Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC), Australian Human Rights Institute choir and UNSW Burgundian Consort performance commemorates 55 years since Dr Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in leading the US civil rights movement. The first public sculpture in Australia honouring the life of Dr King was installed among fellow human rights champions on the Library Lawn in 2018.
The chorus, which consists of 50 students aged 15 to 18 years old, harnesses the power and joy of music to unite Boston's diverse communities and inspire social change. Through intensive choral training and high-profile public performances, its members develop leadership skills to represent the city of Boston.
The chorus members will attend a workshop, hosted by the Australian Human Rights Institute and UNSW’s ASPIRE program, with students from Sydney’s Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School where they will devise a manifesto on important human rights challenges.
The Australian Human Rights Institute’s Director, Scientia Professor Louise Chappell, said the students were eager to discuss rights challenges that are experienced in both countries but in different ways - such as migration, Indigenous rights and the right to health care.
“These students may not yet be old enough to vote, but they are concerned with these issues and we should listen,” Professor Chappell said.
“Teenagers like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai captured the world’s attention with the clarity of their activism, and I’m looking forward to this workshop producing a powerful statement about the change these teens wish to see in their world.”
The BCC will perform later the same night to open a lecture by award-winning American journalist, New Yorker staff writer and educator Jelani Cobb. He will reflect on the legacy of Dr King as he explores the struggles for civil rights in President Donald Trump’s America.
Martin Luther King Ceremony and Boston Children's Chorus Performance
- Wednesday 17 July 2019, 12.30pm – 1pm
- UNSW Library Lawn, UNSW Sydney
- Open to the public
- Book via Eventbrite
Jelani Cobb: Civil Rights in the Age of Trump
- Wednesday 17 July 2019, 6.30 – 7.45pm
- Sir John Clancy Auditorium, UNSW Sydney
- Free
- Open to the public
- Bookings essential: www.centreforideas.com/event/jelani-cobb-civil-rights-trump
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