PechaKucha at The Marlene Boll Theatre Feb. 20

The global PechaKucha family is coming together with Architecture for Humanity to lend a hand in rebuilding Haiti and establish long-term solutions. On February 20, most of the 277 cities that host PechaKucha events worldwide will converge to present one continuous 24-hour edition of PechaKucha Night: 200 cities, 2,000 presentations, 200,000 people. Kicking off in Tokyo, the presentation wave will travel eastward, with cities presenting one after the other. Crossing all times zones and cultures, the event will be streamed live online (http://www.ustream.tv) and then finish in Tokyo the following day.

Detroit’s PechaKucha wave will take place at 8:20 PM in the Marlene Boll Theatre in the Boll YMCA at 1401 Broadway in Detroit.  This abbreviated PechaKucha Night will be comprised of presentations that offer hope and relief through stories of past disaster relief projects, or ones that offer simple inspiration by showing the power of great creative thinking.  Y Arts will be among the presenters and will be sharing about our digital media program, Y Media Works.

Following the event, Detroit’s PechaKucha chapter will host an afterglow to raise additional funds for Haiti.  The location of the afterglow (venue yet to be determined) will be posted on Detroit Synergy’s website, as well as the Detroit PechaKucha Facebook page.

All of the 2,000 presentations generated from the one-day event – in what could be the world’s biggest single-day globally distributed conference – will be posted on the PechaKucha website, where visitors will also be able to make monetary donations to the project.

All proceeds will go to Architecture for Humanity for rebuilding Haiti. AFH operates globally, and was instrumental in getting projects built after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricaine Katrina. The design costs for the new buildings in Haiti have been already covered so all donations will go directly toward the construction of much needed schools, health clinics and community structures.

In organizing this event PechaKucha intends to not only raise funds through pledges from host cities and contributions from individuals but also illustrate the power of innovative minds, creative passion and, most of all, sharing ideas for change and sustainability.

Drawing its name from the Japanese phrase for the sound of conversation (“chit chat”), the PechaKucha format is simple – 20 images x 20 seconds – and designed to keep presentations concise and moving at a rapid pace.