Lift Ev’ry Voice:
Celebrating African-American Culture & Heritage in the Berkshires
June 19-July 23, 2011
Lift Ev’ry Voice is a countywide arts & heritage festival celebrating African-American history & culture, from both here in the Berkshires to around the world. Lift Ev’ry Voice’s steering committee is co-chaired by Shirley Edgerton and Don Quinn Kelley, Ph.D. A full list of committee members follows below.
Lift Ev’ry Voice begins two weeks before the start of the high season for visitors in the Berkshires, helping to extend the season as well as extend marketing outreach to a new market segment for the Berkshires. It is designed to attract nationwide attention & visitorship for the Berkshires, as well as to celebrate and engage local residents. Lift Ev’ry Voice is a festival open to all.
Lift Ev’ry Voice serves as a marketing & branding umbrella for diverse programming from a wide variety of participating organizations, including the Barrington Stage Company, the Clark Art Institute, the Colonial Theatre, Friends of the WEB DuBois Homesite, Hancock Shaker Village, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Mass MoCA, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Samuel Harrison Society, the Upper Housatonic African-American Heritage Trail, WEB Du Bois Center, & others to be announced.
Lift Ev’ry Voice is named after the song Lift Ev’ry Voice & Sing, traditionally considered the African-American national anthem, and written by the famous writer James Weldon Johnson, who summered in the Berkshires.
Lift Ev’ry Voice founding partners include the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, the Women of Color Giving Circle,the City of Pittsfield, Upper Housatonic Heritage, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Greylock Federal Credit Union, and the Women’s Times.
The Lift Ev’ry Voice Steering Committee
Shirley Edgerton, Co-Chair
Don Quinn Kelley, Co-Chair
Tom Alexander, MCLA
Sandra L. Burton, Williams College
Gina Coleman, Quest for College
JR Glover, Jacob’s Pillow
Elaine Gunn, Upper Housatonic Valley African-American Heritage Trail
Wuane Johnstone, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Frances Jones-Snead, MCLA, Co-chair, Upper Housatonic African-American Heritage Trail
Marla Robertson, Railroad Street Youth Project
Jonathan Secor, Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, MCLA
Gwendolyn VanSant, Multicultural BRIDGE
Megan Whilden, City of Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development
The Lift Ev’ry Voice Advisory Committee
Governor Deval Patrick and First Lady Diane Patrick, Honorary co-chairs
Eugenie Sills, Chair
Amy Bass, Professor at the College of New Rochelle; author of Those About Him Remained Silent: The Battle Over W.E.B. Du Bois
Joyce Bernstein, CEO of North Street Marketplace, LLC
Ed Bullins, Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Northeastern University
Benjamin B. Downing, Massachusetts State Senator
Rachel Fletcher, Co-director, Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail
Craig Harris, jazz trombonist and composer
Evelyn Harris, artist and performer, formerly with Sweet Honey in the Rock
Jane Iredale, Founder and President of Iredale Mineral Cosmetics
Homer “Skip” Meade, W.E.B. Du Bois scholar
Lawrence Rosenthal, CEO of Emanon Corporation, Vice Chair of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
David L. Smith, Professor at Williams College, co-editor of The Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History
John Douglas Thompson, award-winning actor
Dianne Walker, Artistic Director of TapDancin, Inc.
