Last Saturday, the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition gathered with artists and musicians at Art Ark Gallery (1035 South 6th Street, San Jose) for Art Peace, a benefit for Darfur, organized by April Gee.

Phantom Float, Michael Medina, Jonah and many other bands performed outdoors from 1-10pm. The gallery featured artwork about war and peace including Mark Brecke’s photos from his trip to Darfur.

Information about Darfur was available in the Camp Darfur tents, and Generation Engage hosted a discussion about Darfur with Kendra Zanotto, Samuel Garang Akau and Mark Brecke. Samuel is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan living in San Jose and Kendra was an Olympic bronze medal winner in the 2004 Olympics for sychronized swimming. She currently works as a journalist and planned to report from the 2008 Olympics in Beiijing, but because of her affiliation with Team Darfur, her visa to China was denied.

Kendra is planning an event for Darfur during the opening cermonies of the Olympics on August 8th. The evening at Art Peace ended with the screening of Mark Brecke’s film, They Turned Our Desert Into Fire.