For those of you who may not know about the Sol Collective, it is a cultural hub in Sacramento. Functioning as an art gallery, community space, and music venue by night, Sol Collective is also a non-profit youth center during the day offering Sacramento's next generation workshops in music production/recording, writing/blogging, urban gardening/sustainability, and art of all kinds. The Sol Collective was started by Director Estella Sanchez over seven years ago out of a necessity. An educator by trade, Estella met some young children (not even teenagers) in the Del Paso Heights area who were selling crack. Heartbroken by the painful realities facing youth in low income neighborhoods, Estell

A young black male raised without a father, expelled for assaulting his teacher in fourth grade finds poetry mentors who help cultivate his gift for words and turn him into a beacon of hope in his community. It's the kind of adversity-overcoming story that fuels the inspirations of Hollywood filmmakers. It is also the real-life story of Sacramento Area Youth Speaks poet/mentor Andre Tillman, otherwise known as Dre-T. "I would say ages six through eight were my troubled years," Tillman says, recounting the incident that got him expelled from grade school, "I remember knowing it wasn’t my teachers fault." It was right around this time that a young, frustrated Andre Tillman would discover wh

What is Liberation Permaculture? When posed this question, creative organizer Rafael Aguilera’s answer is amazing pasta sauce. “It’s not all about gardening. It’s about village alchemy. How do we identify who has needs or skills in our own neighborhoods and work together? Is some guy growing tomatoes and has too many while another guy down the street has an incredible recipe for pasta sauce?” And as simply as that, the concept of permaculture is boiled down. Bill Mollison, who is credited with helping develop permaculture as a systematic process in the 1970s defined it as “a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than pro

Born in Brazil, Zuzuka Poderosa now resides in New York City where she is a big part of the Latin movement responsible for bringing Moombathon from the underground to the forefront. Zuzuka Poderosa is a sultry, unapologetic Brazilian dancehall vixen who spits Portugese rhymes over block rattling bass. Known as The Queen of Baile Funk, Zuzuka is also a DJ that packs New York City night clubs with Tropical Carioca funk, a street poet known worldwide, and a name to watch in the coming year.  Last year Zuzuka electrified Sol as part of the Global Hood Music series. Alongside DJ Righteous Trash, Zuzuka brought the spirit of Brazil and swagger of New York to the West Coast and had a blast doing