A Successful Benefit Screening in D.C.

There are no words that can express my joy and gratitude for the gathering we had at JoJo’s restaurant in D.C. this past Sunday, Oct. 4th. Produced by Colette Williams of Ol Soul Project, a resident of the D.C. area, a fellow SU alum and Delta as well as an incredible singer.

She organized a wonderful night of entertainment with local spoken word artists and performers. She even blessed us with two songs, one an original composition of hers that blew everyone away. Our host Kimberly Collins, an acclaimed writer in her own right, helped keep the evening moving along smoothly.

The spoken word artists that she introduced were Hari Jones, Khadijah Moon Ali-Coleman, Love the poet and Black Root.

The poets that graced the mic were incredible and I want to thank them all for sharing their talent and time. Each artist dropped jewels of knowledge on subjects as varied as losing a family member to AIDS, love and urban youth, captivating the audience with each word they spoke.

We were also fortunate enough to have art donated to us by Sharon J. Burton, an amazing self-taught artist. The two pieces she brought were beautiful as well as moving and thoughtful. We were pleased and grateful to have her assist in our fundraising efforts.

The evening ended with a screening of the trailer for the documentary, which is available as a short documentary in the education market, at Third World Newsreel. The film was well received and we had a lively discussion about AIDS in the Black community. We even met a gentlemen from the Army, who just happened to come into the club, and it was revealed that he was apart of the team that is developing the AIDS vaccine in Thailand. When he stood up and asked to speak, many had no idea where this was going. A friend of mine thought he was going to go Kanye West on us. “Yo, no disrespect! This event is great and all but the one last night was the greatest of all time.” As you can see, it was a wonderful night which was made even more special by our host JoJo’s restaurant, which is also where Colette, also know as Colie, performers every Wednesday night. So, if  you are in D.C. and looking for a great place to eat, listen to some good music and just chill, then JoJo’s your place.

This was a great night and we hope to have more events like this in the near future. If you are interested in hosting a screening or organizing a fundraising event, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us through our contact us page.

Until then, for your viewing pleasure, we’ve added some photos of the evening so you can get a sense of the spirit of the night!

Posted by admin on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 5:21 PM