David LaMotte is a very good partner in this important work both for our world and for the human soul.”
— Richard Rohr, author of The Naked Now, and Falling Upward
David LaMotte has presented keynotes and workshops on five continents, appearing along the way, either as a speaker or a musician, with well-known world changers such as Desmond Tutu, Pete Seeger and civil rights hero John Lewis. He has keynoted conferences at the Scottish Parliament building, at a week-long retreat in El Salvador, in Berlin, and at conferences in Thailand, Australia, and Zambia, as well as across the United States.
Two years after his convocation here, I still hear students talking about how relevant his presentation was to their lives.”
~ Mindy Maddox, Drury College
His primary topic is Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness, which is also the title of his most recent book. In these talks and workshops, LaMotte questions prevailing narratives 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 by examining the often misunderstood and misrepresented dynamics of large-scale change. He supports his encouraging worldview with compelling stories from the U.S. civil rights movement and from his own experiences.
For printed material on David LaMotte’s speaking presentations, please click here.
LaMotte 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, sustainable development with a Gandhian organization.
Along with his concert appearances and speaking engagements, he currently serves as the Clerk (Chairperson) of the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Task Group. He is also a consultant on peace issues at the North Carolina Council of Churches, and the president of a non-profit he founded in 2004 to help support critical thought and literacy through schools and libraries in Guatemala, PEG Partners.
Some people are just natural teachers. David LaMotte is one of them.”
~ Dolores Longhoffer, Arts Education Facilitator, Campbell Co. WY
As a supportive presence and guide in post-traumatic contexts, he was called on to lead a remembrance near New York City on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and later, to celebrate healing in Joplin, Missouri after devastating tornadoes there. His undergraduate alma mater, James Madison University, named him a “Madison World Changer.”
In addition to concerts and Worldchanging 101 presentations, LaMotte has taught poetry and songwriting workshops and classes to groups from middle school through master’s level, including writing workshops he developed for survivors of the Columbine and Jonesboro school shootings.
LaMotte has also spoken frequently on other topics, from vocational exploration to creative writing to guitar technique. If you have ideas regarding how he might engage with your work and your audience, feel free to contact us to discuss possibilities.
To inquire about booking David, please click here.