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Juneteenth Arts Fest – Gala celebration marks end of U.S. slavery

The Cooperative Culture Collective, an association of Brooklyn-based artists and entrepreneurs, presents the Eighth Annual Juneteenth Arts Festival, which will feature performances, vendors, and workshops, June 21 from 12-6 p.m. in Culyer Gore Park, corner of Fulton & Greene streets in Fort Greene.

Commemorating the official ending of slavery in Texas and other parts of the South, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed (June 19, 1865), in addition to the performances and other events, an awards ceremony will honor Brooklyn’s best, including Cake Man Raven and clothing designer Moshood (Spirit Award); Tyrone Brown, founder of the Bed-Stuy Steppers Drumline (Uplift Award) and Olanike Abbi (Trailblazer Award).

Activities include: a chess workshop, salsa dancing lessons, a fashion show featuring designers and crafts people from the festival, face painting, arts & crafts vendors, and a Fine Arts Walk, as well as “Sankofa: Look Back to Honor…Embrace to Move Forward.”

Daylong entertainment will also feature the Idoda Etsha Dance Troupe, Cotton Club Jitterbug Dancers, Double Dutch Kids, the Sankofa Youth Theater, Koko the Clown — Juneteenth historian, Imani Church Praise Dancers, Mime Ministry and Youth Gospel Choir, the Bed Stuy Steppers Drumline, and spoken word artists Keith Alexander, Alicia Powell, Sistah Deborah, and vocalists: Terry Davis & with daughter Katora, Stephen Beasley, Mydra Kelly and Marguerite Miriama.

Actor/producer Charles Reese will serve as festival master of ceremonies with soul filled sounds provided by Charles Reese Sounds’ DJ Ian Rock.

For more about the festival, contact Marcia Pendelton at 646-467-7393 or email her at marciapendelton@aol.com.