David LaMotte has presented keynotes and workshops on four continents for organizations as diverse as the Guitar Association of New Zealand and Rotary International. He has taught and spoken at conferences, churches, professional retreats, universities, corporations, schools and once at a homeless shelter.
LaMotte has appeared with well-known world changers such as Desmond Tutu, Pete Seeger and civil rights hero John Lewis. His peacemaking work has taken him from Bosnia to Belfast and from Berlin to Bethlehem. He developed and taught writing workshops for survivors of the Columbine and Jonesboro school shootings, and was called on to lead a remembrance new New York City on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as well as celebrating healing in Joplin, Missouri after the devastating tornadoes there.
LaMotte is the founder and director of PEG Partners, Inc., a non-profit organization that supports Guatemalan schools and libraries. That work earned him a nomination in the Heifer Project’s World Ark magazine as a “Hero of Humanity.” His undergraduate alma mater, James Madison University, named him a “Madison World Changer.”
He obtained his masters in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Resolution from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia as a recipient of the prestigious Rotary Peace Fellowship. As a part of that work, he also spent three months in rural India studying integrated development with a Gandhian NGO. Along with his concert appearances and speaking engagements, he currently serves as the clerk (chair) of the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nomination Committee. He is also a consultant on peace issues at the North Carolina Council of Churches, and is writing a book, tentatively titled World Changing 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness.
David speaking in Australi
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The two primary topics for his speaking engagements are “Worldchanging 101″ and “Write Now,” a creative writing workshop.
Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness. In this workshop/lecture, LaMotte questions prevailing ideas about how the world changes and how it does not. Encouraging people to engage with the world around them and address the problems they see, he methodically builds a case for both our capacity and responsibility to make a difference. He supports his encouraging worldview with compelling stories from the civil rights movement and from his own experiences in Guatemala, India, Haiti, the United States, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Suitable for adults, college or high school students.
Write Now: As a published poet and essayist, an award-winning songwriter and a veteran of ten albums of primarily original music and over 2000 concerts worldwide, LaMotte brings a great deal of experience and insight to his songwriting and poetry classes. He offers writing workshops for nearly any age, demographic and level of experience, down to elementary school.
LaMotte has also spoken frequently on other topics, from peacemaking to vocation to guitar technique. If you have a particular topic that you would like for him to address, please feel free to contact us to discuss it.