February 9-10, 2024
Black arts, music and film will be on full display in Fayetteville this February! The Arkansas Black Music and Film Expo, newly expanded and in its third year, will take place on February 9-10, 2024 at the Fayetteville Town Center.
Presented by local nonprofit Music Moves, the Arkansas Black Music and Film Expo will take place over two days, coinciding with the return of the Fayetteville Mardi Gras Fat Saturday Parade of Fools.
The Friday of the festival, February 9th, will focus on Black films, featuring screenings of work and career of Daphne Maxwell Reid, better known as Aunt Vivian Banks of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The Film Expo will showcase three regional/local filmmakers.
Each screening will include Q&A panels with the filmmakers and we’ll end the night with an afterparty with music entertainment.
Saturday tunes into Black music. The afternoon highlights an HBCU Marching Band, Arkansas Gospel Chorale, and a beautiful presentation called “How Jazz IMPACTED Hip Hop,” reflecting on the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop and the outsize role of Jazz in this American invention. The 18 and up evening performances include headliners Lyfe Jennings & Yung Joc. Show openers will be Akeem Kemp (Blues), Michael Fields Jr. (Smooth Jazz) and Branjae Jackson (Soul Rock).
Weekend passes, Friday night film passes, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening passes are available on the event website.
Music Moves is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make Black music and the arts accessible both to students and to our entire community through performance and education. The organization takes care to shine the spotlight on the importance of starting young when educating folks about the pioneers who paved the way for justice and equality for all. They believe that music is key to opening pathways of communication across cultural boundaries and take every opportunity to get out in the community and get people moving!
For more information about Music Moves and the Arkansas Black Music & Film Expo, please visit musicmovesar.com.
