A Guide to Hosting the Ciclovida Film, Music & Bike Tour 2011

First, thank you for your interest in hosting a local Ciclovida event.Speaking from nearly 10 years of experience of organizing localevents as tours came through Worcester, MA, I know the effort andinitiative that it takes to pull off a successful event. I am alsoconvinced that this is exactly where the important work needs tobe done: at this grassroots level. This packet is to help youorganize the event and hopefully have an enjoyable time with it –it's going to be a fun and empowering experience! Please feel freeto be in touch with questions on any of this.

In solidarity,Matt FeinsteinTour Coordinator / Filmmaker – Ciclovida: Lifecyclematt@ciclovida.orgcell: 508-335-7783

Step 1: Choose from the tour menu:

1. 76 Minute Feature Documentary FilmThis, we expect, will be part of each event. If you would like a screener of the film to know exactly what you're dealing with, we'd be happy to send you a DVD if you agree to a simple statement saying you won't jeopardize future distribution of the film.

We are also working on a 52 minute version of the film, which will most likely be ready by the time of the tour. This is an option if the event is part of a larger conference, has many local speakers/performers, or has a time restriction for another reason. Contact us ASAP if you're considering this option.

See below for synopses.

2. SpeakersWe also expect this to be a piece of every local event. Length of time / format fordiscussion or question and answer is flexible, though. The standard evening eventwould have a short welcome/introduction, then show the film, then have 30-45 minutesof speakers and discussion, then musical performances.

The tour speakers (full bios available online: http://ciclovida.org/en/2011speakers):Ivania de Alencar and Inacio do Nascimento are the landless-farmer-protagonists, co-directors, and camera operators of the Ciclovida: Lifecycle project. As dynamic andpassionate speakers and musicians, they are the main inspiration for the film and thetour. In the case of problems with attaining visas, we will contact you promptly, but areconfident in their ability to participate in this tour.

Matt Feinstein is the filmmaker, and an organizer for social and environmental justicebased in Worcester, MA.

Loren Feinstein, filmmaker and composer, is available for some of the events.Local Speakers: We encourage local events to include brief presentations by representatives of organizations working on related issues / making deep change in your community.

3. Musical performancesInacio do Nascimento is also an entertaining musician and will be available to singsongs (in Portuguese) relevant to the topics discussed in the film. Translations ofseveral songs will be available to project during his performance.Other musicians will be joining us for parts of the tour, send us suggestions and keepan eye out for updates by email and on the website: http://ciclovida.org/en/springtour/

4. Workshopsa) Biofuels, Agrofuels and Climate Changeb) Landless Movements in Brazilc) Pedal and solar-powered sound & video.Workshop descriptions below and here: http://ciclovida.org/en/tourworkshops

Step 2: Think about hosting spaces and organizations.

An ideal space takes into account all of the following:a) ACCESSIBILITY: accessible to a diverse cross-section of the community (age, class, race,ability, sexuality, cultural identity). The space could be on a campus or in the greatercommunity, but should be open and inviting to the general public regardless. Questions to askyourself: Is this venue accessible by public transportation? Is this space inviting to peoplefrom multiple age groups and cultural backgrounds? Is the building handicap accessible?b) CAPACITY: This depends on the outreach abilities of your organizing team, we would likeevents to have at least 50 people present. Think about a space that is large enough to fityour expected turn out but not too large as to feel empty. It also needs to have a screen orwall on which to project (we will be bringing projection equipment).

Sample/standard menu choice:

3-4:30pm Biofuels, Agrofuels and Climate Change workshop in Global Environmental Studies class

7pm Welcome/introduction7:15 Feature film8:35 Speakers and discussion9:15 Musical performances10:00 Wrap up

c) AFFORDABILITY: Rental fees take away from the amount that can be raised to covertravel costs or for seed-saving purposes in Brazil. Ideally the venue would be donated for theevent (which is often easiest when it is part of a University, but other spaces can be free!), ora reduced rate can be negotiated when the renter learns about the tour and its mission. d) OTHER NEEDS: Tables (three 10ft tables or comparable for information), allow bicyclesinside (projection equipment requires bicycles), water for speakers and bikers.

Step 3: Contact us about a date and a funding plan.

We would like to try to solidify a date as soon as possible, so be in touch! In each city, we arelooking to raise $2000-$4000 to cover travel costs and raise funds for Ciclovida's seed-savingefforts in Brazil. This is not a fixed rate, but international travel and bike-powered projectionsystems are expensive. Most likely, this will include college student group sponsorships or aconsiderable effort on getting local businesses and organizations to sponsor a communityscreening. If there is already a college or sponsored event happening in your town or city, wemay be able to do a second event with less fundraising expectations. Use your imagination inseeking sponsorship! And let us know if you need more guidance on ways to solicit funding.Ticket sales is another great way to fundraise for the tour.

Step 4: Gather an organizing team.It is a good idea to not try to do everything yourself. Possible roles for organizing teammembers: event space person (secures space, makes sure it is set up and has needs statedabove), outreach people (representatives from co-sponsoring organizations are great to havehere), publicity/media person (does not require much media experience / will work withCiclovida Tour Media Coordinator), fundraising person or people, food person (if eventincludes food), workshop person (organizes additional workshops). Of course, if yourorganizing team is small these tasks can be shared or someone can take on a few of them.

Step 5: Solidify the details: date, place, time.As soon as you have a desired date, a solidified place and time, please send us these detailsand we'll get back to you with a “Confirmed!” email. Then you can start publicizing!

Step 6: Make an outreach and publicity plan.Do NOT leave outreach and publicity to the last-minute. It is the most important part oforganizing a successful event! Here are some ideas for this plan:

• Identify groups working issues related to ecology/local food/sustainable agriculture,bicycling, climate change/alternative energy, social justice activism, latin america, land-based projects, women's empowerment, music and activism, etc.

• Involve collaborating groups as early as possible in the process.• Get access to city-wide / town-wide / campus-wide email lists and post on these with

enough lead time for people (at least 3 weeks).• Remember phone and email reminders day before and day-of event!• Gather / get access to phone lists of people who would be interested in this event.• A press advisory should be sent out to as many local and regional media outlets at

least 3 weeks before the event and a press release should be sent the day before theevent and again the day of the event (Ciclovida Tour Media Coordinator will be there tohelp with this).

WE WILL PROVIDE: • Invitation letters. We will email you a sample invitation letter (as a Word doc.

attachment) that you can personalize for the organizations you are reaching out to.• Palm cards and posters with show information. The palm cards can be included with

the invitation letters when approachingorganizations, and both the cards andposters can be given to the organizations topromote to their own constituencies.

• Email campaign. We will provide you with agraphic email with information aboutCiclovida: Lifecycle, including the showtime, date and location, that can be used topromote to the activist community in yourcity, and that the invited organizations canforward to their list serves.

• Press kit. We will provide you with a kit thatincludes a sample press advisory, pressrelease, fact sheet, film synopses andspeaker bios.

Step 7: Finalize logistics. Please find places for tour members to sleep while in your town or city. We don't need afancy hotel, in fact in most cases, we will prefer to stay with activists and continue theexchange of ideas. We will, however, have some requests to ensure tour members get theirsleeping needs met that might include pet-free spaces, etc. We'll let you know with at least 3weeks advance notice what these needs will be and how many people will need lodging.

Step 8: Media / Publicity implementation.Connect with Ciclovida Tour Media Coordinator about doing media work around the event.At this point, you're already on the way with outreach and logistics being worked out and it'stime to connect with us about getting the publicity / media work done.

Step 9: Rememberreminders!As we mentioned above,reminder phone calls andemails are very important forensuring turn out for the event.

Step 10: Set up early,have an amazingevent!We need to get into the spaceand set up (with your team'shelp) at least one hour,preferably two hours before thestart of the event. Remembertables, water, and signs to helppeople get to the room if it is noteasy to find.

Thanks to Alixa & Naima and Hurricane Season (http://climbingpoetree.com) for a great model hosting packet!

Additional Information: TOUR INCLUDES:• Bike-powered projection of the award-winning documentary film, Ciclovida: Lifecycle!• Engaging speakers from a Brazilian landless movement!• Energize climate justice and local food movements!• Live musical performances!

In April and May 2011, filmmakers andBrazilian activists/musicians featured inthe award-winning documentary filmCiclovida: Lifecycle bike up the EastCoast of the US. Ciclovida: Lifecycle (76minutes) follows a group of landlessfarmers and musicians from northeastBrazil who traverse the entire SouthAmerican continent by bike in search ofnatural seeds and expose the devastatingeffects of industrial agriculture destinedfor biofuel.

The tour will also feature live musicians and a team ready to teach workshops aboutalternative energy systems, featuring bike-generators and solar powered chargers that will bepowering Ciclovida projections around the world in 2011!

WORKSHOPS DESCRIPTIONS:Biofuels, Agrofuels, Farmers and Climate Change

Promoted as a solution to climate change, large-scale industrially-grown cropsprocessed for agrofuels are, in fact, a major contributor to deforestation and therefore climatekillers. They also have devastating effects on small farmers and indigenous communities.This workshop will inform on this reality and discuss what local, grassroots solutions,including sustainable biofuels, could look like.

Landless Movements in BrazilOne of the largest social movements in the world, the movement of landless farmers in

Brazil, involves several million families in Brazil who mobilize to occupy fallow farmland andbuild projects of sustainable agriculture, community centers, schools, seed banks and more.You may have heard of the MST (Landless Workers Movement), but they are just one of themany organizations involved in this growing, powerful movement in Brazil. Hear from theexperiences of members of this movement who have been involved in several occupations,with and without the MST.

Pedal and solar-powered sound & videoIt's time to get creative about energy generation. This workshop will be a hands-on

workshop about bike-power generation and do-it-yourself solar systems. It will use as anexample the Ciclovida power system and will offer several other options and examples forcreative, people-sun-wind-power-generation.