The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) announces the recipients for the 2020-2021 Contracts for Arts Services (CAS) awards.
Each year, CAS awards general operating and project support to non-profit arts and community organizations, as well as project support to individual artists based and producing work in the City of Atlanta.
​The program, initiated in 1982 to support Atlanta’s thriving arts community, awards annual contracts related to the production, creation, presentation, exhibition, and managerial support of artistic and cultural services in the City of Atlanta.

​During the fiscal year 2021, the City of Atlanta, through the Contracts for Arts Services program, will provide municipal support for the arts totaling over $1.7 million to 13 individual artists, 76 arts organizations, and 14 community and neighborhood organizations in the city of Atlanta.

The Black American Music Association (BAM) and the Georgia Entertainment Caucus (GEC) has announced the formation of the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame (WOF) which will be installed in downtown Atlanta starting in January 2021.

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The WOF will reside on the sidewalks of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Northside Drive, 1 AMB Drive, NW, Atlanta, GA 30313. 

This year’s ELEVATE Art Festival examines arts and culture through the lens of our changed reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have experienced racial unrest, economic recession, isolation due to social distancing, and a divisive political climate. The festival theme is Equity, Activism, Engagement, and through our programs we seek to provide hope, inspiration, and food for your soul. Join this year’s free virtual programs from Sunday, October 4 through Saturday, October 10.  It’ll be streaming live via Facebook, YouTube and website. Check elevateatlart.com for details.  Below is the music lineup.

This year’s ELEVATE Art Festival examines arts and culture through the lens of our changed reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, racial unrest, economic recession, and a divisive political climate. Dance performances being presented are dazzling, dreamlike, and defiant. They provide insight into issues that we, and our communities, are dealing with including inequity, food insecurity, and isolation, but also seek to inspire hope, resilience, and activism as we move forward. Join this year’s virtual programming from Sunday, October 4 through Saturday, October 10.

NEWS SOURCE:  Hatchett PR

​The City of Atlanta - Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs will bring its annual ELEVATE public art festival to Atlanta’s historic West End neighborhood from Sunday, October 4 to Saturday, October 10, 2020. This year’s festival events will be virtual. 

​• Musical performances by Kebbi Williams and The Wolf Pack, The Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra, Gritz and Jelly Butter, Tony Hightower, and Julie Dexter. 
​• Mural installations honoring civil rights leader Reverend James Orange and Black women activists from the West End community. 
• An online and in person voter registration event at the West End MARTA station. 
• A conversation with New York Times best-selling authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones, who frequently feature Atlanta’s West End community in their work.  
• The opening of Hammonds House Museum’s exhibition Elements of A Revolution. 
• A conversation between the executive directors of Atlanta Contemporary and Les Abattoirs/Toulouse to discuss challenges of promoting art during COVID-19, issues of gender equality and racism in their field. Since 1974 Atlanta and Toulouse have been Sister Cities. 
• A screening of the stirring new documentary, “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” an intimate account of the legendary U.S. Representative’s life, legacy, and more than 60 years of extraordinary activism. 
• An Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance of Lazarus created by acclaimed hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris. The ballet connects the past and the present in a powerful work that addresses racial inequities America faced when Mr. Ailey founded his dance company in 1958 and still faces today.
• Renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems, in collaboration with SCAD, will launch RESIST COVID/TAKE 6, a public art initiative raising critical heath awareness about COVID-19 and the ways racial inequities have manifested in the pandemic. 

​We have known Shameia and her Grammy winning producer husband, Michael, for some years now....You may remember that Shameia has been featured on our What Do YOU Speak? segment.   

....You may remember when When We Speak TV made an appearance in her music video, Hold On To That Feeling

....or maybe her voice sounds familiar to you because she is the female voice on Ice Cube's song Streets Shed Tears.

​​Singer, Shameia Crawford, believes that you have to give yourself the best results.

​Shameia Crawford is featured on Ice Cube's new song, Streets Shed Tears.  She has released music of her own and has sang background for other great singers like Angie Stone, so now to be featured with Ice Cube is a great achievement.  

We are definitely holding on to this feeling!  We can not stop playing and dancing to Shameia Crawford's new video for her song "Hold On To That Feeling"!  Look closely and you will see some very familiar faces!!!! 

Many 2020 events have been either cancelled, rescheduled, or going virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.....added to that list is the Riverfront Jazz Festival in Dallas, Texas.

The Riverfront Jazz Festival founded by Curtis King, President of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, is a multistage musical festival, that promotes, cultivates, and spotlights renowned musical artists from around the world as well as promising young artists from the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

​The perfect online platform for exhibitors around the world to meet, showcase their products and services, and connect with the largest minority-owned hair care customer base in the world. 

​The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) President and CEO H. Beecher Hicks III and Mayor David Briley signed lease that officially gives the museum control over the space the museum will occupy at Fifth and Broadway.

​​The 51st Running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race will be held across the country and around the world as the race moves to a completely virtual event in 2020.

​Along with vision and hard work of Jazz in the Alley’s creator and Event Director, Ziggy Warfield, JITA has become one of the most sought after jazz events held in Historic Downtown Norcross, GA. The annual summer series has gained local notoriety from artists and jazz enthusiast of all ages.

​Email:  jazzinthealleyatl@gmail.com
Jazz In The Alley Website
Jazz In The Alley on Instagram 
Jazz In The Alley on Facebook
Jazz In The Alley on Twitter

​Check out our most recent T-shirt Design!!!
BRAINS AND BEAUTY
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Can you find Jermaine Sain singing in this video?
Happy Birthday (Gospel Style)