THIS Saturday, June 28th, 2008, from 1 to 3 pm

This is turning out to be a busy week for Tapestries of Hope with director Michealene Cristini Risley just finishing a talk by invitation at Google as part of the Women@Google series (This after Risley's successful Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders' Seminar at Stanford University with producer Anand Chandrasekaran).

This Saturday, June 28th, 2008, from 1 to 3 pm, is the Tapestries of Hope Fundraiser Wine & Music Event. You're invited to Wente Vineyards (California's oldest family owned and continuously operated winery) for an afternoon of live music, free food, wine tasting, and helping our human rights cause in the historic (air-conditioned) Estate Winery Barrel Room, located at 5565 Tesla Road in Livermore, CA.

Enjoy live music from winemaker Karl Wente's acclaimed band The Front Porch, which includes Tapestries of Hope producer Ray Arthur Wang, a retired concert pianist. The Front Porch rotates through multiple genres for a truly unique listening experience: hear original music as well as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Chick Corea, Beethoven, Gershwin, etc. (Joining The Front Porch for this charity event will be world renowned percussionist Kenneth Nash, famed for his collaborations with Bobby McFerrin, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B.King, Woody Herman, Weather Report, and many more.)

All proceeds from the concert ticket sales go to complete Tapestries of Hope, the human rights movie and social entrepreneurship effort that you're familiar with. Michealene will speak at the event.

For the philanthropists out there, tickets go for donation levels of $25, $100, and $500, the latter two coming with great perks. Click here to RSVP today!

For those with a tighter budget, there are group discounts: you can show up at the door in a group of 2 for $5 OFF each $25 minimum entry fee. Show up in a group of 3+ for $10 OFF each entry fee.

As a thank you for your donation to our registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, you will receive up to $50 savings off wine and merchandise in the Wente Family Estates tasting rooms. Restrictions may apply.

Finally, the blog love for Tapestries of Hope continues with this nice read.

Blog love for Tapestries

Tapestries is in post-production (a HUGE shout-out to Kent and the amazing team at Fat Box, and our editors Robin Chin and Vanessa Perez!)... feels like the beginning of the home stretch. From the first meeting with Betty Makoni in April 2007 and beginning of pre-production in Summer '07 to now feels like a long journey. Now the wait begins...

The ability to tell such a powerful and important story... we're excited, to say the least!

The blogosphere is excited too this week. Following is a snapshot of the collective bear hug the project and its director received:

- Amy Jussel's Shaping Youth blog... an excerpt:

Obviously, it’s a touchy subject to awaken the world to the story of two child abuse survivors fighting to expose these horrors, but Michealene has managed to ‘pay it forward’ with profound positivity by giving people the tools to engage at IndieGoGo, a cool social media film fundraising site for supporters like me to make a difference.

- Mamalicious blog... an excerpt:

I’m so lame. Tapestries of Hope has been on my to-blog list for a minute, but I hadn’t gotten around to it because it deserves much more than a rush job, and that’s where I am these days. But Amy Jussel at ShapingYouth has done the damn thing–and done it right.

- Ideas for international development blog (blog in French).

On another positive note, Tapestries is the first movie to repeat online fundraising success on the new site IndieGoGo! Check out the project's page and get involved today. You can choose the movies that get made.

Thanks a ton for all the support. Stay tuned for more updates.

We love you too!