CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu
On Wednesday, July 19, Drake University and several neighborhood groups will celebrate Drake JAM (Jazz and Art at the Market) as part of the Metro Arts Jazz in July concert series. The festivities will feature an art show, children’s activities, two live bands, local and ethnic food and ethnic dances.
The Drake campus and Drake Neighborhood Farmers’ Market will be humming with activity as Drake-area groups join together to celebrate the cultural diversity of the neighborhood.
The multicultural festival will begin with a display of works by local artists sponsored by Metro Arts Alliance as well as children’s games and face painting along with local and ethnic food vendors at the Drake Neighborhood Farmer’s Market, which is open from 4 to 7 p.m. each Wednesday in the parking lot of First Christian Church, 25th Street and University Avenue..
At 6 p.m. the Drake campus will swing into action with a festival of music and dance on the lawn in front of Old Main at 2507 University Ave. The festival will first showcase emerging artist jazz band Galactic Assault — just back from a tour of Europe. Then at 6:45 p.m. Gateway Dance Theatre youth will perform three ethnic dances to the sounds of percussion ranging from Afro-Cuban drums to Indian percussive sticks. The festivities will conclude with a performance by Thelonius Assault, a locally renowned jazz band featuring trumpeter Andy Classen, director of jazz studies at Drake.
In case of rain, the concert, which starts at 6 p.m., will take place in the Performing Arts Hall in the Harmon Fine Arts Center, 25th Street and Carpenter Avenue.
The multicultural festival is sponsored by Drake University, Friends of Drake Arts, Drake Neighborhood Association, Drake Area Business Association, Drake Neighborhood Farmers’ Market, Metro Arts Alliance and Gateway Dance Theatre.