Juneteenth 2020: Celebration of Creativity is a virtual festival that honors and commemorates this historic day. Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, is a national day remembering the emancipation of the Confederacy’s last slaves in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th, 1865.

This virtual festival is free for all and celebrates arts and culture through the voices of Indianapolis creatives.

Juneteenth 2020: Celebration of Creativity was curated by Bashiri Asad, AshLee Baskin and the 10th East Art Hub summer fellows, Eve Eggleston and Eduardo Luna. 

View the full playlist on Youtube. Make sure you like our channel for more videos and updates from 10 East Arts!

About Bashiri
Acknowledging that each of us has a priceless gift that we must harness and share with the world, Bashiri Asad has come to define his sound as "IndySoul". He laughs. He cries. He loves. He dreams. Just like you, everyday. He feels deeply, and turns his feelings into music. Soul music. Music that says exactly how you feel, everyday. Bashiri Asad is the “Everyday Soul Singer,” and he will remind you that feeling what you feel, in your soul, is just fine. IndySoul is his passion, and he exudes this with every song! Keep up with everything happening in my world at: https://www.bashiriasad.com

Connect with Bashiri on social media!
https://www.facebook.com/bashiri.asad.fan.page
Instagram: @Indysoulhead

Send Bashiri and his band some love via their tip jar on Cashapp!
Bashiri: $BashiriAsad
Cassius: $CashDrums
CJ: $CJWarfield
Will: $Will06Rob

Inspired by her deep connection to her ancestry, AshLee’s song “Oh Freedom" depicts her great grandmother's story of freedom. "Black Thread" is an original poem by AshLee Baskin. The set concludes with Nina Simone's "Four Women," accompanied by Joshua A. Thompson. Ashlee chose this piece because it tells the story of four different women all experiencing the same fight. Joshua A Thompson is a classical pianist who is intentional about highlighting works by African Americans and their contributions to classical music.

About AshLee
Multi-genre. Multifaceted. Artist.

AshLee Baskin is a vocalist, songwriter, lyricist, poet/spoken word artist, actress, and teaching artist. Nina Simone's words, “You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times,” serve as the guiding light regarding her work. While AshLee's versatile vocal style spans many musical genres, her central artistic endeavor remains to uplift, inform, encourage, empower, and provoke change for the progress of Black People and/or highlight their musical contributions. Her performances are an engaging dialogue between the audience, her message, her. She works hard to give the audience a performance they won't soon forget.

Connect with AshLee on social media! 
Facebook: AshLee Baskin (PsyWrn Simone)
InstagramG: @psywrn_says

Give AshLee some love via her tip jar!
Cashapp: $ASHLEEBASKIN

About Tony
Tony Styxx, an Indianapolis native, is a Spoken Word Artist/MC/Human Beat box. An entertainer since age 18, Tony Styxx has taken his time to cultivate his talents in the Indiana soil opening doors for him to share his gifts all throughout the Midwest. A triple threat talent, Tony has had the pleasure of bringing his unique sound to amazing collaborations and opportunities to open for many regional/national talents from Bashiri Asad (Soul) and alpha.live (Hip Hop) to Black Violin (Classical/Hip Hop instrumental) and Mike Epps (Comedian).

Connect with Tony on social media!
Facebook: @tonystyxx
IG: @tony_styxx

Send Tony some love via his tip jars!
CashApp: $MrStyxx
Venmo:

About Yadin 
Yadin Kol is a captivating self-taught musician, singer, and songwriter who began his music career in 2016. As a passionate and soulful performer Yadin takes listeners on a musical journey where love and faith balance the ills and injustices of society. 

Yadin believes that art and music are about connection. Through speaking and singing and playing to the authenticity of the human experience music allows us to realize that we are connected to everything in and around us. Music brings us closer, gives us a sense of belonging, and makes us realize that we are not so separate after all. Yadin’s dream is that his music will unite, heal, and uplift people in light, love, and happiness. His EP, set to be released in 2020, promises to be a fresh and powerful contribution to the world of music. 

Connect with Yadin on social media!
IG: @yadinkol
Facebook: @yadinkolmusic

About Mariah
Mariah Ivey is a writer, poet, musician, and curator living in Indianapolis, IN. She is the visionary and founder of local performing arts hub, That Peace Open Mic, which serves as both a radical and imaginative space for art, culture, and community. She is an active facilitator + practitioner of Restorative Justice, Social Emotional Learning and Equity/Anti-bias work. Her ability to write and weave conceptually among academic and traditional performing arts spaces has not only strengthened her love for teaching, it's furthered her study of it. She is currently studying at IUPUI majoring in Africana Studies and Philosophy. Simultaneously, she is an active performer, having opened for Beverly Bond (founder of Black Girls Rock), Grammy-Award Winning Hip-Hop Group Arrested Development, Anthony Hamilton and more. Whether she’s working in public or comfortably focused behind the scenes, her deep love for language, education, and Black and Brown communities will continue to inspire, impact, and drive her work.

Connect with Mariah on social media:
Instagram: @mariahivey_   @ThatPeaceOpenMic
Facebook:  @mariah.w.ivey  @ThatPeaceOpenMic 

Send Mariah some love via her tip jars!
Cashapp: $MariahIvey1
Venmo @Mivey1
Paypal: Paypal.me/MariahIvey

About Toni
Toni Moore is an Indiana native from Fort Wayne where she began her dance training at the age of 3. Toni is technically trained in ballet, jazz, modern, and musical theater jazz. Toni currently resides in Indianapolis, where she performs regularly throughout the community. Her most recent performances include: Black Thought with Joshua Allen Thompson and Champagne Glass acrobatics for Krescendo Events.

Connect with Toni on social media!
Instagram: @homebodies.fitness

Send Toni some love via her tip jar!
CashApp: $homebodiesfitness

About Manon
Manon Voice is a word revolutionary. She is a poet, spoken word artist, hip hop emcee, and social justice activist. Manon uses her voice as a revolutionary medium. She uses her voice to speak up, confront systemic issues, and uplift.

A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Manon Voice is a poet and writer, spoken word artist, hip-hop emcee, educator, social justice activist and practicing contemplative. She has performed on many diverse stages across the country in the power of word and song and has taught and facilitated art and poetry workshops widely, working with organizations such as Women Writing for (a) Change, Arts for Learning Indiana, Notre Dame Americorps, Regeneration Indy, Indiana’s WomIN’s Festival and Purdue University. She has been a featured poet and performer in noteworthy Indianapolis productions such as “The Wake”, “Village Voices Notes from a Griot”, and "Nina: High Priestess of Soul". Manon Voice has performed alongside Broadway singer and actress, Jennifer Holliday for Brothers United World AIDS Day, Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka, International Poet, and Philosopher, David Whyte, and has opened for acts such as WNBA Championship basketball player Tamika Catchings and Judge Joe Mathis at the Indianapolis Central Library.

Connect with Manon online!
Websites: www.manonvoice.com, www.wearekindredcollective.com
Facebook: Manon Voice
Instagram: Manon Voice
Twitter: Manon Voice

Send Manon some love via her tip jars!

Cashapp: $ManonVoice
Venmo: @ManonVoice

About Chantel
Chantel Massey (she/her)  is a Midwest poet, teaching artist, educator, and avid Anime lover based in Indiana. She is a 2019 Wintertangerine  and 2019 Open Mouth Poetry resident Alum. She is the author of Bursting At The Seams  (VK Press, 2018).  Later Massey founded the creative writing organization UnLearn. Her work is forthcoming or appears in FAFCollective, IndianapolisReview, Turnpike Magazine ,and other online and print publications coming elsewhere. Her current focus is on human rights, confessional and emotional honesty about: womanhood, identity, sexuality, spirituality, and blackness.

 Connect with Chantel online!
Website is: www.chantelmassey.com
IG: @ _chantel.massey
Facebook: ChanteljMassey

Creator of Unlearn
Web: unlearnarts.org
IG: @Unlearn_litarts

Send Chantel some love via her tip jar!
Paypal: chantelmassey

About Chief LeTava Mabilijengo

Sis. LeTava is a steadfast activist for the restoration of Black people and the African principle of matriarchal leadership. She is an electrifying motivational speaker and author. She conducts workshops, seminars and training units in the areas of Matriarchal Nation-building, spirituality, parenting, and Afrikan-centered male/female relationships. She has put these principles into practice for more than twenty years. Visit her website at www.sisterletava.com, to learn more about the work she does and how you can help.

About Jared
An Indy native, Jared Thompson is a saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He began piano at the age of 5 and began studying saxophone at the age of 10. The North Central High School and Denison University alum formed his own jazz quartet Premium Blend in 2007. A mainstay and fan favorite in the Indy area, Thompson performs regularly at The Chatterbox, The Jazz Kitchen and a myriad of venues in the city.

Connect with Jared on social media!
Facebook: @premiumblendindy

About Joshua
Joshua Thompson is a pianist, social musicologist, and producer. He is increasingly recognized on a national scale for his expertise on classical composers of African descent and the inherent cultural connectivity in the broader aesthetic of Black Arts movements. As the 2020 Beckman Emerging Artist Fellow of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, he is currently in residence at the Africana Studies Center for Music and Society at the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Joshua is a classically trained and accomplished keyboard artist with a personal mission to exclusively program and perform classical masterworks by composers of African descent. In 2019 Joshua was named Performer in Residence for Eskenazi Health’s Marianne Tobias Music Program and a featured artist for the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ “Art and Soul Celebration.” Joshua has worked with legendary bassist John Clayton, Whoopi Goldberg, and renowned operatic soprano Angela Brown. His performance studies and experience include trumpet that began at age 10 and continued as an active member of the New World Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s “Side-by Side” program.

In 2004, Joshua obtained a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. He deftly merged his music and advocacy paths, working closely with an expanding range of Central Indiana cultural arts organizations and social agencies to facilitate access to educational resources. The Arts Council of Indianapolis, the Indiana Arts Commission, Music for All, Classical Music Indy, Arts for Lawrence, Arts for Learning, Morning Brown, Inc., Indy Jazz Fest, and a variety of Indiana-based artists have employed or consulted Joshua to ensure funding and support for their projects. He is an active board member of Arts for Lawrence.

In January 2018, Thompson debuted his first artistic production, “Village Voices: Notes from the Griot”—an original production that highlights the unsung and underperformed masterworks from artists of African descent. Making its world premiere at Newfields in Indianapolis, Thompson’s production continues to be performed on local stages and in classrooms throughout the Indianapolis metro area. In October 2019, he was a featured presenter for the popular TED Talk series. His creative output continues in 2020 with his inspired podcast series “Melanated Moments in Classical Music” from Classical Music Indy with co-host Angela Brown, originating from his hometown of Indianapolis.

www.joshuaathompson.net

Send Joshua some love via his tip jar!

PayPal: joshuathmpsn@yahoo.com