Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas Debuts
with a Week of Performances, Exhibitions, Food, Vendors and Discussions
June 14-19
With a commitment to celebrating the extraordinary contributions of artists of African descent, the inaugural Chattanooga Festival of Black Arts & Ideas will premiere with a slate of work showcasing the disciplines of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film and literature during a week-long celebration June 14-19 at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Coolidge Park, and other locations around the community.
The multidisciplinary festival aims to spotlight emerging and established black artists and build greater community awareness of the diversity of black arts within Chattanooga and Hamilton County, says festival founder and CEO Ricardo Morris. The event will also provide opportunities for discussions on topics that connect black arts to other areas of the life of the community.
“The first and most important outcome I want the festival to achieve is to awaken the greater Chattanooga community to the broad spectrum of exemplary work by black artists in our own back yard,” Mr. Morris says. “This celebration will allow other ethnicities to better understand and embrace the concept that while these works of art may be created Black people and reflective of the Black condition, they more importantly speak to the human condition in ways that only the arts can do.”
The date of the festival coincides with the internationally recognized observance of Juneteenth, a U.S. holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas and, more widely, the emancipation of African slaves throughout the former Confederacy.
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Schedule of Events
Thur. June 14th @ 6 Staged Reading of Play by Charles Patterson
Panel Discussion at 7:00
Friday, June 15th @ 6 Screening of Short Film by Shelia Wofford
Panel Discussion at 7:00
Sat., June 16th @ 11:30 Black Music Month Celebration
@ 9:00 PKS Spoken word open mic night
@ 11:15 End of Riverbend Fireworks
Sun., June 17th @ 3:30 Panel Discussion The Black Church
@ 5:00 Black Dads Matter Gospel Concert
Mon. June 18th @ 6:00 Viewing at AVA of Charlie Newton's work
7:00 Panel Discussion
Tue. June 19th @ 12 noon Juneteenth Commemoration on the steps of Chattanooga's City Hall with a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing of Negro Spirituals; proclamation by the Mayor and the singing of the Negro National Anthem "Lift EVERY Voice and Sing"