For Immediate Release: November 10, 2009

NextAid Presents Its Second Annual
“World AIDS Day 2009 Events”
Uniting the Dance Music Community With Fundraisers Across the U.S.
LA’s Kick-Off Event at Marrakesh House in Culver City
Featuring DJs, Comedians, Spirits, Food & Silent Auction
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

LOS ANGELES, CA – Humanitarian organization NextAid presents its second annual World AIDS Day 2009 Events (WAD2009), a multi-date fundraising campaign in cities across the U.S. starting on November 25, 2009 in San Francisco and continuing throughout the entire month of December. Tied into World AIDS Day (WAD), a globally recognized day, which takes place every year on December 1st, NextAid activates the international dance music community to raise funds and awareness for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in Africa. The first WAD, established in 1988 by the World Health Organization, was about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education, goals that are as relevant as ever in 2009. A portion of the proceeds from each of NextAid’s WAD2009 events will go towards two of its current projects on the ground: the Kawangware Street Children & Youth Project (KSCYP) in Nairobi, Kenya, and the loveLife GoGogetters program in South Africa. For more information on NextAid and all the WAD2009 events please visit http://www.nextaid.org/wad2009.

From its home base of Los Angeles, NextAid will throw a swanky affair on December 1st at film director Chris Paine’s Marrakesh House located on a scenic hillside in Culver City (private address, not to be posted, revealed upon ticket purchase). Entertainment for the big LA benefit will include Louie Vega, DJ Rap, Turntables on the Hudson with DJ Nickodemus and Nappy G with a Brazilian drum troupe plus Todd Simon on trumpet, Marques Wyatt, and Raul Campos along with comedians Ben Morrison, Ben Gleib, and Whitney Cummings. Enjoy ArcheDream For HUMANKIND dancers, an international blacklight mask theater company that communicates universal ideas and emotions to promote understanding and compassion. Honored guests in attendance will include Augustine “Agasto” Githaiga, the co-founder of KSCYP (his first trip to the States!) and Stephan McGuire (founder of Coalition for a Sustainable Africa and a producer on Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The 11th HOUR), who will speak briefly. The evening will also include a silent auction featuring ecological and fair trade products and services, photography of Africa, and work from artists of African descent.

Tickets for NextAid’s LA benefit cost $75 if purchased by 11/20/09, and $100 afterwards and at the door. An open bar featuring cocktails and mixers, plus light food provided by organic and/or local restaurants will be available. Food and beverage sponsors include JETT Vodka, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Kim Crawford Wines, organic juices and functional drinks by Purity Organic, AKBAR cuisine of India, Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss, Tia’s Bakery, and The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa. Several NextAid partner organizations will have booths set up on-site including MUD cosmetics [http://shop.mudshop.com/mud-cares-palette], and handmade Kawangware bags from the KSCYP kids [www.africabags.com]. This special NextAid-produced fundraiser will be streamed live on the web thanks to In Soul We Trust. For more information and tickets please visit: http://www.nextaid.org/wad2009/dec01.html.

Additional L.A. event partners include Grace Kim Consulting, Homemade LA, Jeromy Robert Photography, Motion Audio, Space:Loft:Six, and Viceroy Hotel.

Similar fundraisers are happening around the country, starting with San Francisco on November 25th at supperclub with headliners D:FUSE and Sen-Sei. The East Coast kick-off takes place two days later on Friday, November 27th at New York City’s Sullivan Room thanks to Giant Step and Turntables on the Hudson featuring DJ Nickodemus and Nappy G. Additional WAD2009 event/promoter partners include DEEP, Insomniac, Tropical, and Uniting Souls/Free Thinking (all based in LA), as well as loom (Omaha), OM Records (S.F.), Playloop (Philadelphia), Uhuru Afrika (Boston), and House Music Society (Charlotte). The dance music scenes of other cities have also responded to this call for action, totaling over a dozen events confirmed so far throughout the month of December with additional promoters, artists and DJs still joining the effort.

NextAid has partnered with organizations and media partners with deep electronic music and DJ culture roots such as Fusicology, Green Galactic, ReEvolution Marketing, Rhythmism, The MML, URB Magazine, and Wantickets to help with the massive promotional efforts for NextAid’s growing number of WAD2009 events.

The funds raised from the World AIDS Day 2009 campaign of events will go towards two of NextAid’s current projects:
– The Kawangware Street Children & Youth Project (KSCYP) in Nairobi, Kenya – http://www.nextaid.org/kawangware.htm
– The loveLife’s goGogetters program and NextAid’s “Send A Child to School” campaign in South Africa

Locally created and managed, KSCYP strives to get youth off the streets of Kawangware, a slum bordering Nairobi, by providing opportunities for performance activities and economic development. The profits generated for KSCYP help support the youth workers’ basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care and education, while also taking care of the community’s orphaned and vulnerable children. NextAid has joined forces with KSCYP by committing to raise funds for the construction of an eco-friendly, multipurpose facility for the project’s micro-business.

NextAid is also working with the well-respected South African organization, loveLife, to be the beneficiary of NextAid’s “Send a Child to School” campaign. goGogetters is a loveLife program to support the many grandmothers (gogos) who dedicate their old-age years to the wellbeing of orphans and vulnerable children. NextAid is raising funds for the schooling needs of some of the most helpless children who participate in the goGogetters program. All it takes is $75 to fund one child’s education for an entire year. This donation will ensure that school fees are paid and the child is equipped with a school uniform, shoes and school supplies.

NextAid represents the dance music community’s response to AIDS in Africa…

NextAid receives support from a wide range of entertainment industry leaders including some of the most internationally recognized names in dance music, such as Louie Vega, DJ Dan, Miguel Migs, Nickodemus, DJ Rap, OM Records, Dubspot, and URB Magazine. From mega-events like Miami’s annual Winter Music Conference to small clubs and through benefits and other music-related activities, NextAid channels the positive energy on the dance floor across the globe to children in Africa, thus providing an opportunity for this niche demographic to Using the Beats of Our Generation to Provide Hope for the Next. Check out NextAid’s Artists & DJs PSA to learn more: http://www.kyte.tv/ch/335172-nextaid/530357-artistsanddjsfornextaid

About Marrakesh House –
Located on a hillside adjacent to California’s newest State Park, the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in Culver City, Marrakesh House is one of the most environmentally friendly remodels in Southern California. Documentary filmmaker Chris Paine, director of the acclaimed film Who Killed the Electric Car? purchased the home in 2007 with the aim to transform the original Mid 20th Century Modern home into a model for sustainable living in the 21st century. In the process, Paine has also created a private residence that doubles as venue for art, music and culture in the surrounding community – http://marrakeshhouse.com.

About NextAid –
NextAid’s mission is to improve the lives of youth in Africa by implementing and advancing sustainable solutions. Through music events and public education initiatives, this Los Angeles-based humanitarian organization raises awareness for and partners with community-based projects and grassroots organizations in Africa. NextAid adheres to a holistic and integrated approach in addressing the spectrum of challenges associated with establishing lasting change. NextAid provides empowering opportunities for concerned individuals to make a tangible difference.

The UN estimated that every 14 seconds, an African child loses a parent to AIDS, and every day, more than 6,000 young Africans aged 15 – 24 acquire the HIV virus. After more than two decades of AIDS devastating the continent where life began, only 10% of the 15 million AIDS orphans are receiving any kind of public support. The enormity of the AIDS pandemic demands a response from every corner of society. NextAid believes that focusing on children is the most effective way to impact this crisis and uses the collective energy generated on the dance floor to make a difference.

About World AIDS Day –
World AIDS Day is a day when individuals and organizations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. This year marks the 21st anniversary of World AIDS Day with the theme of “Universal Access and Human Rights.” The human rights approach is comprehensive, tying directly into the response needed for universal access to treatment, prevention, care and support. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done. More information can be found at www.worldaidscampaign.org.

According to UNAIDS 2008 estimates, there are 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. Around 95% of people with HIV and AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world

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For more information, photos or interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s
Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.