 
T-shirt Art, Art Patch Project & Musicians Jam Weekend
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The Chicago Critical Mass (CCM) has no political goals and no formal structure. It is a bike ride for fun by people who gather spontaneously on the last Friday of every month at the Picasso Plaza (Washington Blvd. and Clark St.). The route is determined by how riders vote on competing maps presented to those who show up. Anyone can offer a map for the CCM riders to follow. This month T-shirt Art Harvest Festival founder, screen-print artist C Drew, will be among those offering a map which he calls "the Freedom Ride Map" in memory of the Freedom Riders from Civil Rights era. C. Drew, is fighting for his freedom and yours. The State of Illinois intends to make a political prisoner of the artist for testing the peddlers license law by selling art for $1 on State Street in Chicago. The State has charged him with a 1st class felony (4-15 years in prison) for audio-recording his own arrest when selling art in public. Mr. Drew seeks the freedom of artists to develop an audience in public and to survive by selling their art, as is their First Amendment right in the U.S.A. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has decided Mr. Drew must first fight for everyone's freedom to gather information (audio record) on how public servants (police) treat citizens in public while on duty. Citizens need this right to offer evidence in court to protect themselves from abuse by public servants who might violate their rules of conduct. The ACLU-IL is suing Anita Alvarez for prosecuting citizens who audio-record police in public while they are on duty. Mr. Drew is countering these heavy-handed tactics with the Art Patch Project. The Art Patch Project is a community art program in which artists, supporting their First Amendment right to sell art in public without a license, submit art which is printed and given away free to the public to educate the public to the value of public art scenes where artists can survive by their art. Volunteers are committed to printing and giving away Art Patch Project art to march this art around the legal barriers locking artists out of public spaces until these legal walls crumble from the pressure of public opinion. Art Patch Project art will be featured alongside 22 years of T-shirt art at the 22nd annual T-shirt Art Harvest Festival. Bands will play free all weekend. Come pick-up free Art Patch Project art-patches and boogie-down. Also displayed will be comments by people from around Chicago and the Nation in reaction to the actions of the States of Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts to incarcerate citizens for exercising their First Amendment right to audio-record their public servants in public. Thirty-eight States recognize this right but nine are wavering and three are very bad actors convicting citizens for this act. Tell these bad actors what you think about your First Amendment rights! All who attend will be invited to add their own comments on this pressing issue confronting our Nation today. Comments will be posted online to illustrate the decision of the Court of Public Opinion. Mr. Drew hopes to convince the many people who ride bikes in the Chicago Critical Mass to ride up to the American Indian Center for a free art and music festival celebrating Freedom. Stop by the American Indian Center Friday night to see if the citizens of Chicago Critical Mass decide to take the Freedom Ride. Whether they do or not, everyone will have some fun at the T-shirt Art Harvest Fest. - 30 -
T-shirt
Art Harvest Fest
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