Booking


Rapid Response Street Actions for Black Lives: We can often get together a crew of drummers to support at rallies or marches in the streets. Request STREET ACTION DRUMMING 

BoomShake Workshops: Music for the Movement!
Have you ever wanted to turn your picket line into a dance party? Engage your members’ creativity and encourage them to share cultural traditions? Build energy and a sense of community at a conference or retreat? Plan a flash mob? Make your actions joyful, noisy, media-friendly and memorable? REQUEST US
BoomShake offers rhythm and movement workshops for unions and community organizations. We train workers, elders, parents and youth to play beats that get crowds moving; to create songs or chants relevant to their communities and layer them over rhythms; and to incorporate music and movement into actions and gatherings. We work with folks of all ages and backgrounds - even (especially!) those who think they have no rhythm. You can hire one or a group of BoomShake Facilitators for your event or group. Contact Us to discuss your organization’s needs and make a plan to get your members rocking in the streets!

¡Se habla espaƱol! We speak Spanish and may be able to accommodate other languages - and we find music a fantastic tool for building solidarity in multilingual groups.
BoomShake’s facilitators are experienced community organizers as well as musicians. We can work with your group to design an individual workshop or series that builds your capacity and strengthens an action or campaign. Here are a few examples:

*Build a rhythm corps!
Over the course of a 6-8 week workshop, we can train a group of your organization’s members and/or staff to play crowd-friendly drum beats from different traditions - and to improvise and create new rhythms. We’ll also write simple chants or songs that speak to your members’ struggles and inspirations, and practice incorporating them into instrumental music. And we’ll encourage members to share songs and rhythms from their own families and communities, and to adapt those to give voice to their experiences and struggles. This is an especially good option for organizations in ongoing campaigns, those who do frequent street actions, and those who want to build members’ long-term engagement and investment.

*Action prep
We can run shorter workshops similar to those described above to build a drumming and chanting team for major events or mobilizations. (We trained a group of UNITE HERE Local 2850 worker members and and student activists to play drums and lead chants for their national convention - over the course of three rehearsals).

*Team-building
We run one-time workshops - anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours - to get teams of people making music, chanting and moving together. This is a great opportunity to engage participants and build community at conferences, trainings, staff retreats, and community events. We can also teach simple beats and chants at training or preparation meetings for mobilizations.

*Flash mobs
We can work with you to plan a high-impact flash mob or other creative action - incorporating music, song and choreography - to further your campaign’s goals. We’ll help with planning and scouting targets, messaging, songwriting, choreography, training participants, and documentation/media outreach.

*Equipping your rhythm section  
We’ll help you and your members construct rhythm instruments from easy-to-find materials like water jugs. We can also work with you to find and select affordable drums and adapt them for mobile actions.

Getting started:
Contact Us to discuss your organization’s needs and make a plan to get your members rocking in the streets!