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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Birthday Celebration
January 20, 2008
The MLK Steering Committee will host the 24th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Birthday Celebration at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on January 20, 2008. Milwaukee and Atlanta, Georgia are the only cities to have celebrated Dr. King’s Birthday annually since 1984. The event is free and open to the public.
The day’s activities will open with various cultural arts organizations performing in the Anello Atrium at 12:45 p.m. Representation from community organizations will include Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Calypso, Trinity Irish Dance, Syrenka – Polish Youth Folk Dance Ensemble and much more. This event has played to capacity crowds for the past three years.
Programming in Uihlein Hall will honor those students who will interpret Dr. King’s words through art, speech, and writing. The theme interpreted this year is “America Must Change.” This is an excerpt from “A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
The Steering Committee is pleased that local performing arts groups will also appear in Uihlein Hall as part of the 2:00 p.m. program. The Chinease Youth Orchestra will perform this year along with the Northside YMCA Gospel Choir, Latino Arts Mariachi Juvenil, and City Ballet Theatre.
The program will include tributes to Dr. King by local politicians and Legacy Speakers, Janan Najeeb from the Islamic Society, Dr. Darnell Cole from MATC and Lori Waldon from WISN 12. The program will also feature the singing of the National Anthem, as well as the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Father Bryan Massingale, Marquette University, will perform the invocation.
The Honorary Chairs of the event are Mayor Tom Barrett, County Executive Scott Walker and Marcus Center Board Chair Lynn Sprangers.
Following the program there will be a reception in the Bradley Pavilion at 4:00 p.m., sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Pictures from the 2007 event. |
