Speak for Change

Speak for Change was founded with the mission of creating positive and lasting social change in our local and global communities. From a studio at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz, Thomas Sage Pedersen has hosted over 100 podcast episodes – and now, Speak for Change and Indexical bring you a series of live events! Each event features an interview and a musical guest, with new and custom sets tailored to the topic of conversation.

Upcoming Events

All Events

Calendar

Past Events

Speak for Change: Cannabis Unveiled - Cannabis in Contemporary US Culture

Thu., Feb. 29, 2024 PST | Indexical

Please note that this show is rescheduled from February 15 2024. All tickets booked for the original date remain valid.

Thomas Sage Pedersen and Speak for Change presents Cannabis Unveiled - Cannabis in Contemporary US Culture, featuring a conversation with local Santa Cruz cannabis expert Bryce Berryessa and a music performance from vocalist Crista Berryessa.

Speak for Change: Summer Red - The Role of Music in Modern Culture

Thu., Jan. 11, 2024 PST | Indexical

Speak for Change presents a live music performance from local music producer, curator, and musician Summer Red followed by a discussion with Thomas Sage Pedersen on the role of music in modern culture.

Speak for Change: Consuelo Alba - The Power of Storytelling

Thu., Dec. 7, 2023 PST | Indexical

Join us for a film screening of Consuela Alba's short film El Andalón / The Healer and a conversation with the filmmaker about the "Power of Storytelling." Consuelo is an award winning documentary filmmaker and Executive Director of the Watsonville Film Festival.

Screening and Discussion with Madre Guía (Stephanie Hewett)

Thu., Apr. 20, 2023 PDT | Indexical

Due to illness, Thomas Pedersen had to cancel, but we will still host Madre Guía this evening! She will show footage from her recent project (E)cho (Q)ueue at The Lab in SF, followed by a discussion with other artists, moderated by the Black Sound Symposium's curator, Kira Dralle.

Madre Guía (Stephanie Hewett) (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work emerges from a play-based movement practice within an investigative framework. As a queer, Black, Afro-Diasporic artist with roots in the Caribbean, her work is inevitably rooted in emancipatory practices. Hewett aims to deepen curiosity around the Black American experience by focusing on the sonic, somatic, and spiritual manifestations of Black freedom through a variety of improvisational structures and cross-disciplinary experimentation.

Rescheduled! Speak for Change: Mimi Tempestt

Tue., Jan. 10, 2023 PST | Indexical

Mimi Tempestt is a daughter of california. Her works are aimed at disrupting stereotypical narratives and the iconography of black and queer people in media representations. Her debut album, Rough Diamond, was released in 2019. She graduated from Mills College with a ma in literature. Her debut collection of poems, The Monumental Misremeberings, is published with Co-Conspirator Press (2020). She is currently a Doctoral student in the Creative/Critical PhD in Literature at UC Santa Cruz.

New Date Announced: Speak for Change: Consuelo Alba & Alexandra The Author

Tue., Dec. 13, 2022 PST | Indexical

Speak for Change was founded with the mission of creating positive and lasting social change in our local and global communities. From a studio at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz, Thomas Sage Pedersen has hosted over 100 podcast episodes – and now, Speak for Change and Indexical bring you a series of live events! Each event features an interview and a musical guest, with new and custom sets tailored to the topic of conversation.

Speak for Change: Khafre Jay + Lyrical I

Tue., Oct. 11, 2022 PDT | Indexical

Speak for Change is back with Khafre Jay of the Oakland-based Hip Hop for Change and a live set by Lyrical I.

Kuumbwa Jazz & Indexical Present: Speak for Change – Darius Jones & Amirtha Kidambi with Cat Willis

Wed., Jul. 20, 2022 PDT | Kuumbwa Jazz

Kuumbwa Jazz Center & Indexical bring the highly popular Speak for Change series of live events to the Kuumbwa stage. The NYC-based duo of Darius Jones & Amirtha Kidambi opens the evening with a series of musical adaptations of cosmological writings by iconic improviser and bandleader Sun Ra. Following the live musical set, host Thomas Sage Pedersen sits down with Cat Willis—Founder of Tannery World Dance & Cultural Center, and instigator of the Black Health Matters initiative—to discuss her work and founding one of the central organizations cultivating Black culture and art in Santa Cruz.

Speak for Change with Ashanti Branch and August Lee Stevens

Thu., Jun. 9, 2022 PDT | Indexical

On the two-year anniversary of Speak for Change Podcast, Thomas Sage Pedersen interviews Ashanti Branch, the Oakland-based founder of the Ever Forward Club. Growing out of Branch’s passion for his second career of teaching, the Ever Forward Club provides a support group for African American and Latino males who were not achieving to the level of their potential, and has since helped 100% of its members graduate high school. Pianist and singer August Lee Stevens opens the night with her mix of classical, pop, indie, and soul tunes.

Speak for Change with Stoney V. Godet and Alwa Gordon

Tue., May. 10, 2022 PDT | Indexical

Thomas Sage Pedersen and Stoney V. Godet discuss Stoney’s work as the Founder and Executive Director of the Autism Family Network of Santa Cruz, their work with the Black Kings of Santa Cruz County, and many other topics on a live taping of Speak for Change Podcast. Local hip-hop artist Alwa Gordon opens the night, as the leader of his own creative label “88 Over Everything,” and the artist behind the release “16 Summers.”

Speak for Change with Jase (Monk) Earl & Kaethe Hostetter

Tue., Apr. 12, 2022 PDT | Indexical

Jase (Monk) Earl and violinist Kaethe Hostetter, longtime friends in musical dialogue, collaborate on a new live set as part of the series of Speak for Change Podcast live events at Indexical. After the set, Earl joins host Thomas Sage Pedersen for an interview on wide-ranging topics connected to his artistic life and history.

Speak for Change with Esabella Grace, Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, and Thomas Sage Pedersen

Tue., Mar. 8, 2022 PST | Indexical

Esabella Grace joins Thomas Sage Pedersen in a conversation about creating a culture of acceptance, belonging, and tolerance in Santa Cruz County. Bella is an advisor for the Black Health Matters Initiative, a co-founder of Blended Bridge, a program committed to creating a safe and open community for all, and the founder of the Black Surf Club Santa Cruz (B.S.C.S.C.). An activist and a young professional, opening up Santa Cruz to the conversations that have long been avoided. Spoken word hip-hop artist Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour opens the night.

Speak for Change with Micha Scott, Zachary James Watkins, and Thomas Sage Pedersen

Tue., Feb. 15, 2022 PST | Indexical

Guests Micha Scott and Zachary James Watkins join host Thomas Sage Pedersen for another live edition of the Speak for Change podcast at Indexical, centering on the experience of navigating spaces as biracial artists living and working in Santa Cruz. The evening opens with a performance by Zachary James Watkins, a composer and performer with commissions from the Kronos quartet, sfSound, the Seattle Chamber Players, and many others. His work as a performer includes the duo Black Spirituals with Marshall Trammel, a radical improvisation duo who toured Europe with legendary metal band Earth.

Speak For Change with Sarah Cruse & Thomas Sage Pedersen

Tue., Dec. 7, 2021 PST | Indexical

Sarah Cruse joins Thomas Sage Pedersen for the next Speak for Change Podcast live show, exploring emergence: the process of coming into view or becoming exposed after being concealed. Sarah will begin with a performance exploring the sound of emergence, by improvising and exploring the energy of the room to create a moment of reflection for people in the space. They will explore what emergence feels like in our personal, communal, and political lives.

Speak For Change with Thomas Sage Pedersen, Abi Mustapha, and Mak Nova

Tue., Nov. 9, 2021 PST | Indexical

Thomas will have a discussion with his good friend, artist & activist Abi Mustapha about the arts, social change, drugs, and why they are all related to discovering your authentic self and changing the world. To start us off, we’ll hear Mak Nova performing a special acoustic set live.

Speak For Change with Thomas Sage Pedersen, Taj Leahy, and Trianna Feruza

Thu., Oct. 21, 2021 PDT | Indexical

Join us for a live taping of the Speak For Change podcast with Thomas Sage Pedersen, featuring conversation with community leaders and activists, and a live-only exclusive musical performance. Speak For Change has produced over 100 episodes since its beginning, with a mission to inspire positive and lasting change in our local and global communities.