The Rev. Angel Kyodo williams will be the speaker for the Opening Plenary at Creating Change 2020.

With just about a week left before the end of early registration on Dec. 31, organizers of the National LGBTQ Task Force’s 2020 Creating Change Conference, coming to Dallas in January, have announced that the Rev. angel Kyodo williams will be the speaker for the Opening Plenary.

williams is a writer, activist and ordained Zen priest who is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace, published by Viking Press in 2000, and the co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, published by North Atlantic Books.

She is also only the second black woman ever recognized as a teacher in the Japanese Zen lineage.

Krista Tippett of On Being describes williams as “one of our wisest voices on social evolution and the spiritual aspect of social healing,” adding that “To sink into conversation with her is to imagine and nourish a transformative potential of this moment towards human wholeness.”

THE CONFERENCE 

Creating Change 2020 is scheduled for Jan. 15-19 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. Creating Change is already the largest LGBTQ activist conference in the country, and organizers said they “expect it will be even bigger [in 2020] because it’s in Texas.”

And, they add, “We need your help”

Organizers expect some 3,500 people to attend the 24 pre-conference institutes, 200-plus workshops and more than 40 caucuses. There will also be wellness spaces, HIV testing, receptions, kid’s programming (through COLAGE), movies, a game night, dances, childcare and three conference-wide plenaries featuring Williams and other leadership voices from across the LGBTQ movement.

Conference organizers are looking for Dallas ambassadors to help in a variety of ways, including:

  • Community Housing Hosts. Community Housing Hosts help keep the conference financially accessible by providing a safe place to sleep and access to a bathroom for the more than 50 people expected to request housing assistance. Hosts do not need to feed or provide transportation for their guests.
  • Conference Volunteers. Organizers need 500-plus people to help with a variety of tasks during the conference. For every two shifts that a person volunteers, they get one day free admission to the conference.
  • Advertising. Those who place an ad in the conference program get an exhibit table for their business and the chance to expand their brand to LGBTQ people from across the country.
  • Donate to or solicit donations for the conference. Specific needs include art supplies for the Art Studio Space at the conference along with snacks, games and decorations for the seven Hospitality Suites..

KIDS’ PROGRAMMING

In collaboration with COLAGE, kids Programming at Creating Change will premiere in Dallas for 25 children, so children ages 8-13 with a LGBTQ parent or guardian at the conference are welcome to register.

COLAGE is an organization created in 1990 by the children of several lesbian and gay male couples who felt a need for support. COLAGE is now operated by people of all ages who have a LGBTQ parent or parents.

Oct. 31 is the last day for early registration for the conference, and those joining COLAGE at the conference are encouraged to register by that deadline, and to use the discount code COLAGE to get a 15 percent discount on the registration costs.

HOST COMMITTEE MEETING

The next Creating Change Conference Host Committee meeting will be Nov. 11, at Resource Center, 5750 Cedar Springs Road. Dinner is at 7p.m., followed by a business meeting from 7:30-9 p.m. ASL and Spanish language interpretation are provided.

For details on registration, being a community housing host or a volunteer, visit the Creating Change website.