Since late 1994, The Bread is Rising Poetry Collective has spread consciousness through the word in numerous appearances in performance, in festivals and gatherings, on radio and public access cable, across the United States, Canada and England.

As a culturally political organization, the Collective continues its work with a regular open stage series - The Julia DeBurgos-James Baldwin-Rev. Pedro Pietri-Lorraine Hansberry People's Cafe - held in El Barrio of New York City.

What has been vital in the continuing work of the Collective is in ORGANIZATION. Peace and love to those organizations and movements that have made their spaces for us over the years:

El Puerto Rican Embassy/Iglesia de La Madre de los Tomates (NYC)

Precious Promise Arts Circle (New Brunswick, NJ)

The Fed - A Network of Writing & Community Publishers (Stevenage, England)

Writers Block Poetry Collective (New Brunswick, NJ)

People's Organization for Progress (Newark, NJ)

Mahina Movement (NYC)

The Collective has performed in:

libraries       

Five Corners, Biblioteca Criolla and Heights Branches (Jersey City, NJ); New Brunswick, NJ; Hackensack, NJ; Newark, NJ; East Orange, NJ; Toronto, ON; East Hartford, CT; Harlem & Countee Cullen Branches (Harlem, NY); Langston Hughes Community Library (Elmhurst, NY); Queens Central Library (Jamaica, NY); Philadelphia Free Public Library; East Elmhurst Public Library (NY)

cultural and community centers

El Puerto Rican Embassy (New York); Walt Whitman Arts Center (Camden, NJ); Kimako’s Blues People (Newark, NJ); Weequahic Park Field House (Newark, NJ);Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center (Raleigh, NC); Elmcor Senior Center (Corona, NY); George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ); International House Garden (Philadelphia); Club Mahwonaj (Washington, DC); Tropical Soul Café (Richmond, VA); The Olive Leaf (Toledo, OH); Mamasita's Dance Studio (Washington, DC)

gatherings and festivals

Do the Right Thing Festival (Brooklyn, NY);

Great Labor Arts Exchange, National Labor College (Silver Spring, MD);

Brother Bey's Annual Earth Day Party;

FedFest 06 @ University of Leicester (England);

July 4^th Diversity Day (Morristown, NJ);

Bimbo Rivas Tribute @ CHARAS (Loisaida, NY);

Penn Avenue Festival Rocks Against Racism (Pittsburgh, PA); Boogie Down BBQ (Highland Park, NJ);

Staten Island Freedom & Peace Festival;

Pedro Pietri Place Renaming Ceremony & Reading at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe;

Annual Poets' Corner Tribute (Fredericton, NB, Canada); Poetry and Protest: A Celebration of Art and Activism with Dennis Brutus, Haymarket Books/Beaver Group (NYC);

Tribute to Dr. Sonia Sanchez & Dr. Alyce Gullatee, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC;

Raritan River Environmental Festival Poetry Reading at Crossroads Theatre (New Brunswick, NJ 18 April 09); Remembrance & Celebration of Daisy L. B. Robinson (1907-2009) at Cobb Funeral Homes, Elmhurst, NY;

Brother Bey's Earth Day (Gaithersberg, Md.; Westminster Presbyterian Church, WDC; Solar Eclipse Club, WDC);

John Brown Raid 150th Anniversary Bus Ride to Harpers Ferry, WV;

MIT asamblea @ Philippine Forum/Bayanihan Filipino Community Center (Jackson Heights, NY);

Martin Luther King Jr. 4 April 2010 commemoration @ MLK statue, Martin Luther King Drive Light Rail Station (Jersey City, NJ).

bookstores

Downtown Washington, DC, Barnes & Noble; Breakdown Books (Denver, CO); Bookmarx (Boston, MA); Robin's Bookstore/Moonstone Arts Center (Philadelphia, PA)

museums

Paterson Museum (Paterson, NJ);

Yale-Peabody Museum (New Haven, CT);

Barrow Mansion (Jersey City, NJ);

Hall of Peace/Dayton International Peace Museum (Dayton, OH).

campuses and schools

Wayne State University (Detroit)

University of Toledo

University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning

University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee

City College of New York

Auraria Campus (Denver, CO)

places of worship

Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Harlem, NY);

Community Church of Boston

Imani Baptist Church (Orange, NJ);

Mike's Place/Second Reformed Church (Highland Park, NJ)

Black History Month Celebration hosted by The Lounge Society at Friendship Christian Church (New Brunswick, NJ);

Bronx Jamaat

The Collective has also performed on radio stations WBAI, WBUR, WPFW, WHCR, WRSU, CHRY, CKLN and CIUT.

The Collective hosts We The People Speak, a weekly show aired Saturdays 10 pm on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (http://www.mnn.org).

The Collective is a member group of The Fed - A Network of Writing and Community Publishers (http://www.fed.btik.com).

Carlos Raul Dufflar (Artstic Director) has published the following books of poetry: El Barrio de Naomi, The Eye of the Flower, Haravek and Las Trincheras de la Vida/The Trenches of Life. He also has appeared in the Barnard College Open Moments Anthology and Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam.

Angel L. Martinez (Minister of Information) has published Spirit, Fire & Flower and the long poem "This is Not America." His articles have appeared in Real News and The Black World Today. He is editor of The Voices, a journal of poetry, art and commentary published by the Collective.

David Gordon (Art Director) has published Directions. His next collection of poetry and art, Scrambled Eggs, is forthcoming.

Sr Amen-Ra Schmm Khnuu (Spiritual Advisor & Director of Videography) is a longtime activist and Kemetic scholar who is responsible for We The People Speak.

Dorothy Johnson-Laird (Co-host) has published her long poem "Indigo Blues." Her first collection is forthcoming.

Carlos M. Troche (Associate Member) has self-published several books of poetry, art, photography and letters over the years. He is one of the original poets of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

Dufflar, Martinez, Gordon, & Troche are also active members of Precious Promise Arts Circle in New Brunswick, NJ (Deborah Chainey, Coordinator).

Dufflar, Martinez, Gordon, & Johnson-Laird appear in the anthologies Poems on the Road to Peace: A Collective Tribute to Dr. King, Vol. 2 (Yale University Press) and in the 7th, 8th and 9th annual New Brunswick Free Public Library Poetry Anthology. 

They, with Khnuu, are featured in Poems on the Road to Peace, Vol. 3.

Dufflar, Martinez, & Gordon are featured in the 6th, 10th, 11th & 12th annual New Brunswick Free Public Library Poetry Anthology, The FED Friends Blog [http://thefed-friends.blogspot.com] and Poetry Ink 2009 & Poetry Ink 2010(Moonstone Arts Center annual poetry anthology).

Dufflar & Martinez appear in Drumvoices Revue Vol. 13, 14 & 15.