Students Promoting Awareness About North Korea or SPAANK which they're more known for, is a UCLA campus organization led by a team of dedicated people with a clear mission: Create awareness about the atrocities and horrific truths going on in North Korea today and partner with organizations in raising up activists through creative mediums. Their latest effort is a benefit concert called "Ignorance Is Bliss" which will feature performances by artists like Far East Movement and Blu. The concert begins Monday (tomorrow) May 26th, at the UCLA Ackerman Grand Ballroom [map] at 6pm.

Christine Bae, Founder and Director of SPAANK, has successfully transformed her own frustrations and compassion for the issues of North Korea into real works of action. SPAANK is a direct result of a grown passion through everyday conversations about North Korea with her grandmother, watching heavy films like Seoul Train, and reading the autobiographies of survivors. Her own words say it all:

" Sometimes I feel ridiculously useless. I can't "work" the political system, hold a child dying from hunger, save a woman from a life of sex slavery or protect a refugee hiding in China but there is something, at least one thing, that I can do: spread this difficult truth to anyone that will hear it."

Tickets at the door are $15 but if you reserve through e-mail here, it's only $10! Listen to some fresh music and contribute to making a difference! Proceeds will go to the North Korea Freedom Coalition and Liberty in North Korea {LiNK}. Both organizations work to protect and provide humanitarian relief to refugees in and out of North Korean borders. Come out and get the facts straight! See you there!

What's next for SPAANK?! These guys are currently planning and brewing up ideas that involve partnering with key humanitarian organizations and sending messages of activism through creative mediums....such as film?! To learn more, and to get involved check the website here or contact them here.

Labels: causes