This Saturday night, Project Ahimsa presents its 2007 Global Youth & Music Summer Benefit.
An initiative of the Patel Foundation, Project Ahimsa was launched in 2001 by a trio of humanitarians in response to the violent post-9/11 attacks on South Asians. Using Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.'s teachings of nonviolence and cross-cultural understanding as its foundation, the organization aimed to foster unity between all cultures, classes, religions, regions and generations through musical education programs for disadvantaged youths both here and abroad. In six years, Project Ahimsa has reached out to nearly 10,000 youths worldwide with music education grants and instrument donations.
The local fundraising event features performances of urban music and dance by the Boys and Girls Club of the Suncoast youths, South Asian dance and tabla by Amritha and Ananth Sastry of the Hillsborough High School IB Program, live reggae music by Tribal Style, African and South Asian cuisine, an open beer and wine bar, a silent auction, art displays, live T-shirt production, break dancing and more.
All proceeds from the event benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, Royal Theater Youth Programs, Tampa Bay Children's Chorus, the Boys & Girls Clubs Choir, Global Alliance for Africa and the Tumaini Vocational Training Center in Tanzania, Africa.
2007 Global Youth & Music Summer Benefit, Sat., July 21, 7-11 p.m., The Royal Theater, 1011 22nd St. S., St. Petersburg, $30 general, $50 couple in advance/$35 general, $65 couple at the door, 813-842-0994, projectahimsa.org.
