Sweet Belief

What do you believe about yourself? Jesse Jackson’s call-and-response poem “I Am — Somebody” has inspired the folks at Fresh City Life to ask Denverites that very question; their answers will be revealed in a short documentary, I Am a Library, and composed into lyrics by David Amram for a children’s chorus and jazz-chamber orchestra number titled “I Believe I Am.”

“There are two goals going here,” explains Fresh City Life’s Dr. Audrey Sprenger: “for people to remind everyone who they are, but also to remind people participating that we are these institutions that we rely on during this election year. We all make up these institutions that we use.

“We’re really looking for a multilingual, intergenerational audience,” she adds. “We want to get as many faces and voices as we can.”

Tell the city your beliefs today at the Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Rocky Mountain PBS, 1089 Bannock Street, or tomorrow, during a big-screen special presentation of The Wizard of Oz, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Central Library, 10 West 14th Avenue Parkway. Then mark your calendars for August 24, when both I Am A Library and “I Believe I Am” will premiere at a Fresh City Life event called Outside of Convention, featuring Amram and Jackson in person. Visit http://denverlibrary.org/programs/july/ibelieve.html for information.
Sat., July 19, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 2008