After a full ‘11 Days of Global Unity’ with special events commemorating and celebrating peace, Peace Day Austin will host a press conference at Austin City Hall, 301 West 2nd Street on International Peace Day, Thursday, September 21 at 10:00 am. The program will include remarks from Austin Assistant Police Chief Joseph Chacon and Major Andy Kelly, Austin area Commander of the Salvation Army. A dove release will close the event. Diane Donovan, KMFA radio personality, to emcee. Also in attendance will be representatives of GlobalAustin, Amy’s Ice Creams, Compassion Games and ZACH Theatre among others. The public is welcome.
Austin joins hundreds of cities and millions of citizens around the world in celebrating International Peace Day. The commemorative day was first established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, and in 2001, the UN urged all citizens to commemorate Peace Day through education and public awareness to help make it a reality every year.
Peace Day Austin is a local initiative made up of various organizations that encourage participation in, and observance of, International Peace Day. It was spearheaded by Austinite Latifah Taormina, who served on the city’s Arts Commission and is former Executive Director of the Austin Creative Alliance. She also founded the Poems for Peace global initiative in Austin five years ago, which has been included as a Peace Day Austin event. Taormina recently moved to California and handed reigns to the team at Motley Crew Media, who have shared the Peace Day Austin journey with Latifah and wanted to continue to see it grow. With a new generation of peace makers in place, Motley Crew Media, along with dozens of others are creating and hosting events and activities, as well as spreading the word about Peace Day Austin. Please visit www.PeaceDayAustin.org for more information and a list of events.
Peace Day Austin event highlights for Thursday, September 21 include:
- Amy’s Ice Creams, special Peace Day Austin flavor, Reese’s Peace (Mexican Vanilla with Reese’s peanut butter cup) available at all locations September 21
- Image projection to celebrate Peace Day Austin on ZACH’s Topfer Theatre on Thursday, September 21 from dusk to dawn, ZACH Theatre, 202 S. Lamar
- Church Bells Ring in Unity on Peace Day, Thursday, September 21 at 12:01 pm
- Global Minute of Silence at Noon on Peace Day, Thursday, September 21
- Press Conference & Proclamation on Thursday, September 21, 10:00 am, Austin City Hall, 301 West 2nd St.
Peace Day Austin includes the following organizations and initiatives; 1 Billion Acts of Peace, Amy’s Ice Creams, Austin Community College, Austin Creative Alliance, Austin Dispute Resolution Center, Austin Parks & Recreation, Austin Police Department, Austin Sister Cities International, Charter for Compassion, CMFW Chamber Ensemble, Compassion Games, Compassionate Austin, GlobalAustin, Global March for Peace and Unity, Heavenly Wings White Dove Release, HI Austin, Interfaith Action of Central Texas (IACT), Motley Crew Media, PeaceBox, Peace Through Commerce, RecoveryATX, Saint John’s United Methodist Church, Salvation Army, Subud International Cultural Association (SICA), Unify, United Nations Association of United States, Austin Chapter and ZACH Theatre.
Peace Day Austin grew out of the work the Subud International Cultural Association (SICA) was doing with Poems for Peace— which was inspired by the passion and dedication of Jeremy Gilley and Peace One Day. Gilley, who founded Peace One Day, was the driving force behind getting the UN to give Peace Day a set calendar date, September 21. Peace Day Austin is now a collaborative grass roots initiative to explore, express, share, welcome, and celebrate what peace means to each of us as we travel from 9/11, a Day of Remembrance and Service, to 9/21, International Peace Day. Every year, millions of people and thousands of organizations across the world organize all kinds of events and activities to promote awareness of Peace Day, to encourage peace-building, forgiveness, reconciliation, nonviolence, and dignity for all in their own local communities.