Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Forum on Community, Culture & Race: The Art of Empowerment + Iftar dinner

7-10 p.m.
The Annex @ Arab American National Museum
13624 Michigan Ave.

Free admission; advance registration required

**THIS EVENT ALREADY AT CAPACITY**

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Doors: 5:30 p.m.
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 E. Warren Ave.
$ bar

8 p.m
Mike Ellison presents “Hard Enough to Smile” (hip hop & more)

6:30 p.m.
City of Words: Multicultural poetry reading

Friday, July 10, 2015

Doors: 3 p.m.
Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Ave.
$ bar

4 p.m.
Leftover Cuties (Pop/jazz) (in the Rivera Court)

7 p.m.
Art is a Weapon: Five Scenes of Frida and Diego in Detroit (in the DFT)

9:30 p.m.
Film: Jauja (in the Detroit Film Theater)

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Max M. Fisher Music Center
3711 Woodward Ave.
$ bar $ food

Doors at 1 p.m.

In the Atrium: Build Bazaar vendors (1-9:30 p.m.)
In Allesee Rehearsal Hall: Holiday Catering (1-9:30 p.m.)
On Parsons Street/Sosnick Court:
Food truck rally (1-9 p.m.)
Biergarten (1-11 p.m.)
ACCESS Growth Center vendors (noon-10 p.m.)
Kids crafts with Arts & Scraps on Parsons Street (1-7 p.m.)

MEIJER MAIN STAGE (Orchestra Hall)

8 p.m.
All-Star Tribute to Marcus Belgrave (Jazz)

5:30 p.m.
Hassan Hakmoun (Gnawa)

3 p.m. 
DakhaBrakha (Ukrainian ethnic)

COMERICA DIVERSITY STAGE (Music Box)

9:30 p.m.
DJ Alsultany (Techno)

7 p.m.
The Infatuations (R&B/rock)

4:30 p.m. 
Corktown Popes (rock)

2 p.m. 
Spirits Rising (Contemporary native folk)

WOLVERINE OUTDOOR STAGE
Sosnick Court (behind Orchestra Place bldg.)

DJ Hiro, host

8 p.m.
Brandon Williams (R&B/jazz)

7 p.m.
Screw (Rock)

6 p.m.
The KDJ Trio (Jazz)

5-8 p.m.
Tilted Axes (post-progressive)

5 p.m.
Kate Monaghan (Blues)

4 p.m.
Iwayo Dance Theatre (Dance)

3 p.m.
Roots Vibrations (Reggae)

2 p.m.
Muruga + The Cosmic Hoedown Band (Funk)

1 p.m.
Annamaria Austin (R&B)

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Max M. Fisher Music Center
3711 Woodward Ave.
$ bar $ food

Doors at 1 p.m.

In the Atrium: Build Bazaar vendors (1-9:30 p.m.)
In Allesee Rehearsal Hall: Holiday Catering (1-9:30 p.m.)
On Parsons Street/Sosnick Court:
Food truck rally (1-9 p.m.)
Biergarten (1-11 p.m.)
ACCESS Growth Center vendors (noon-10 p.m.)
Kids crafts with Arts & Scraps on Parsons Street (1-7 p.m.)

MEIJER MAIN STAGE/Orchestra Hall

8 p.m.
8th Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue: A Tribute to the Electrifying Mojo (rock/eclectronica)
Feat. Members of Was (Not Was), Juan Atkins, Amp Fiddler, Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra String Quartet, Laith Al-Saadi, Walk Thru Walls, Laura Rain + The Caesars, Carolyn Striho, Third Coast Kings, A New Thing, Jeecy & The Jungle, Amino Acids, Moon Pool + Dead Band, Muruga + The Cosmic Hoedown Band.
With the Revue House Band: Don Was, bass; Luis Resto, keyboards; TBA, drums; Dave McMurray, saxophone; and Brian Roscoe White, guitar.

5:30 p.m.
Plena Libre (Bomba)

3 p.m.
Vinicius Cantuaria (Bossa nova)

COMERICA DIVERSITY STAGE (Music Box)

9:30 p.m.
La Chiva Gantiva (Latin fusion)

7 p.m.
Gnawa Diffusion (Gnawa/reggae/groove)

4:30 p.m.
Lola Morales Sean Blackman Quintet (Latin fusion)

2 p.m.
Playdate (rock for kids)

WOLVERINE OUTDOOR STAGE
Sosnick Court (behind Orchestra Place bldg.)

DJ Hiro, host

8 p.m.
HotSauce (R&B/rock)

7 p.m.
Pierre Anthony (R&B)

6 p.m.
Alyssa Simmons (Pop)

5 p.m.
Sean Dobbins Organ Group (Jazz)

4 p.m.
Erica Paige (R&B)

3-5 p.m.
Tilted Axes (Post-progressive)

3 p.m.
Appleseed Collective (Folk)

2 p.m.
Joe Kidd & Sheila Burke (Folk)

1 p.m.
Chris Canas Band (Blues)

What Concert of Colors is All About

The Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual diversity music festival. It is produced by theArab American National Museum with partners Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS, Midtown Detroit Inc. and University of Michigan – Detroit Center. The goal of this five-day festival is uniting metro Detroit’s diverse communities and ethnic groups by presenting musical acts from around the world. Over its 22-year history, the festival has become a beloved highlight of metro Detroit’s summer festival season, and one of the few free-admission music festivals remaining locally.

The Concert of Colors was established by Ismael Ahmed – the former head of the human services organization ACCESS – and New Detroit in 1993 as a one-day event at Chene Park on Detroit’s riverfront. The inaugural event drew a modest crowd to Chene Park, but by 1999, some 10,000 music lovers were coming out each year. The festival expanded to three days in 2001, when it was part of the official festivities for Detroit’s 300th birthday, drawing an audience of 100,000.

In 2005, the festival’s opening night performance was relocated to historic Orchestra Hall at theMax M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, the recently expanded home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). The DSO became a full partner in 2006 as the entire festival relocated to the Max M. Fisher Music Center, with two indoor stages and one outdoor stage. In 2007, the festival grew to encompass four days of free live music. From June-August 2008, the Arab American National Museum presented a photo exhibition by official fest shooters Bruce Harkness and Rebecca Cook celebrating the festival’s historic performers over the years, called Concert of Colors: Exposed.

In 2010, the Detroit Institute of Arts joined this remarkable collaborative effort, becoming a second venue for Concert of Colors. In 2011, the number of festival venues expanded to four, with the addition of the Scarab Club and a new presenting partner, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Also in 2011, the University of Michigan Detroit Center began programming the Outdoor Stage at Max M. Fisher Music Center; the following year, Michigan State University’s Detroit Center partnered with UM on the Outdoor Stage. In 2012, Midtown Detroit Inc. came on board, with its New Center Park hosting the festival’s Tune Up Concert the weekend before the main festival. (NOTE: That same year, 2012, is when New Detroit’s active participation in the event unofficially ceased, just sort of faded away.)

In recent years, attendance at the Concert of Colors has been about 80,000.

World music, including the indigenous music of the Motor City, is the major focus of the Concert of Colors, but not the only focus. The festival also offers ethnic food and merchandise vendors and in 2014, will restore the annual Forum on Community, Culture and Race that began in 2006 but has not taken place for the last few years. The Forum is a conference featuring presentations and discussion among artists, people connected to cultural institutions and community leaders to examine the role of arts and culture in overcoming racial and ethnic barriers.

General Information 313.582.2266

http://www.concertofcolors.com/