Wow – What A Night.
We held our first event at The Irondale Center on June 19th…and it was a huge blast!
First of all, huge thanks to Jorell Williams & Mila Henry (American Opera Projects), Creative Outlet Dance Theatre & Jamel Gaines, Courtney Giannone and Mathias Kunzli, Radha Blank, Amani Breanna Alexander and Marshall Davis Jr. Each of these fantastic artists and groups freely gave their work to us on this evening. We are deeply grateful to each of you for being so generous.
We raised over $11,000 for the BEAT Festival in September (our goal was $10,000)! Each of those dollars now goes into creating a sturdy, dynamic and visible platform for these artists to share their work with the whole borough, city and (hopefully) the world. To everyone who came – THANK YOU for your support. Your generosity will be on full display in September – this could not be happening without you!
It was an amazing night. Frankly, I was terrified and didn’t sleep well for the whole week leading up to the event. Hats off to Paula Gilovich, Mike Faba and the awesome crew of volunteers who helped us out that night! Extra kudos to Jorell, Mila and Creative Outlet for doing a “pop-up” performance during the event – takes some guts to do that and they all pulled it off so smoothly and beautifully (catch the pics of Jorell ON the Irondale’s bar!).
The food and beverage for the evening was graciously sponsored by Heartland Brewery & Beast Tapas Restaurant. To our friends Rich & Deb, massive thanks for donating your fantastic creations to our public.
Now, we focus on September and the huge amount of work which remains for us to launch the BEAT Festival in style. We’re excited, and ready. If you want to continue to support us – please click here and make a donation via our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas (completely tax-deductible). All proceeds go straight into making the BEAT Festival happen in spectacular fashion this September (less than 3 months away!).
Thanks and enjoy these stellar pics from the event taken by our dear friend Meghan Hickey of Quiet Iris Photography:
PS – Have you liked the BEAT Festival on Facebook yet? Look to your right here on the blog and show us your love!