The California Endowment held their #GetLoud Youth Power Fest Rally on May 12th in Los Angeles and I was lucky enough to attend this powerful event. The rally was held at the head office of the California Endowment in Downtown LA.
one of the pieces of art displayed at the rally
I arrived to the event a few minutes early to find a bunch of youth waiting for the event to start. When the event started, people were checked in and let into an outdoor courtyard where the event was being held. When I first walked in there was music playing and right after past the entry werea few walls with art hanging on them. The art on the walls was by many different artists with their art displaying many modern day messages and issues going on in our society. There was art representing racial inequality, cultural inequality, and inequality of the youth. The art was not in just paint form or basic art form but many artists stepped outside the box and created art with neon lights, mirrors, wood, and spray-paint.
The event had many booths set up around the courtyard. There were booths for #SchoolsnotPrisons movement, a booth talking about how the effects of sugary drinks and foods, a booth for Latino Empowerment, and they were also making screen printed t-shirts to give out to attendees of the event.
The Endowment also provided the attendees with free food and drinks. The food options were very healthy and included items like spinach pasta, fruit salad, and an interesting one, hummus filled bell peppers.
After the event went on for about an hour with DJ Francesca playing tunes, they opened the night with a spoken word performance. The spoken word was very powerful with some of the youth involving their life stories and social issues which they are passionate about in their performances. After the spoken word performances the Endowment had the TV/movie star Zendaya as a guest speaker at the event. Zendaya spoke about using our youth voice for good things and to empower each other. She also spoke about making sure to vote in the upcoming election.
“I love that we embrace the youth voice, and our power and our brains and our energy, instead of telling us we don’t have one,” said Zendaya.
The crowd loved Zendaya and her spirit and lots of people were happy to see her there. After Zendaya’s speech a group of three girls named “King” performed their jazz music for the crowd. The event ended with DJ Gaslamp Killer who played his whimsical beats and mixes for the crowd to dance to.
Overall, the event was well organized, empowering, and changing. The youth power is becoming seen as impactive especially in politics this past year. Knowing that people are now really listening to the youth voice is amazing and a big step for this e generation and no one knows what it will become. The Power Fest Event should continue to happen every year and encourage anyone who can to attend this event to do so.
