YMI Cultural Center Ray Auditorium
The YMI Cultural Center is proud to host its end-of-year gala, An Evening of Jazz , on Saturday, April 23 rd from 6:00 - 9:00 PM in the YMI's Ray Auditorium. The event will feature a spectacular evening filled with Art, Music, and Community Honorees. All proceeds from this fundraising event will benefit on-going YMI Cultural Arts and Arts-In-Education programs.
The musical program will kick-off at 6:00 PM with a cocktail reception in the YMI galleries featuring our current exhibit: " Stony the Road: Desegregating America 's Schools". The exhibit chronicles the journey towards desegregating public schools in America and the resistance to integration campaigned by many states with the desire to continue segregated school systems. The art and jazz event will feature the following local and regional musicians (Please contact staff for photography requests) :
· The YMI Youth Jazz Band, directed by Gary Bradley ( 6:00 - 6:30 PM - YMI Galleries ) - This ensemble consists of a diverse group of talented local youths from the Asheville community who have worked with the director over the past six years since the project's inception. Mr. Bradley, a jazz enthusiast and talented musician has helped mold the group into a first-class youth ensemble. His devotion to the students and the YMI includes once a week band practices and requests for performances at several venues in the region. Mr. Bradley volunteers his time at the YMI and is looking to increase the student group to a big band scale of 20 members!
· Local Entertainment TBD ( 6:30 - 7:15 PM - Ray Auditorium )
· Awards Presentation (7:15 - 7:30 PM - Ray Auditorium)
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SWEET DREAMS ( 7:30-9:00 PM - Ray Auditorium ) - SWEET DREAMS is a band made up of four musicians from Greensboro , NC . The sounds SWEET DREAMS create belie the number of its members. They are four musicians of superlative talent, skill and showmanship. In four short years, they've built a reputation that spans the Southeast. SWEET DREAMS is especially popular in North and South Carolina , Virginia , Tennessee and Georgia . They have played a diversity of events and venues including the YMI's own Goombay! festival. So professional is the band, that they are contract players of choice for many recording artists playing live events in the area. Individually, the members of SWEET DREAMS have explored virtually every form of musical expression including: jazz, blues, reggae and rock. SWEET DREAMS : a band of soft jazz, moving ballads and funky dance grooves ensuring you an evening full of excitement and amusement!
The event will feature a short presentation to the YMI's Strategic Partner of the Year, The Biltmore Farms Inc./Broadlands Co. and their CEO , Jack Cecil. The corporate entity was selected by the YMI Board of Directors for the business' continuous financial and programmatic support of ongoing YMI projects. Last year's recipient was Craig Madison of The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa - lead corporate sponsor of current YMI events. Other sponsors and contributors of the YMI will be acknowledged and several door prizes will be raffled off! Join us for a spectacular evening filled with the arts, food, and our diverse community as we benefit the only cultural center in our region with over 112 years of history - The YMI Cultural Center.
"We Celebrate Culture!"
Tickets on sale now ( $35 per person; $60 per couple; $300 for Table of 8 ) at 39 South Market St. - Downtown Asheville - call (828) 252-4614 for more information! Sponsorship opportunities still available.
This event is supported by the Asheville Area Arts Council United Arts Campaign; Asheville Independent Restaurant Association; City of Asheville Parks & Recreation Dept.; Buncombe County Dept. of Social Services; Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa; Limones Restaurant; North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of NC and the National Endowment of the Arts; the NC Dept. of Cultural Resources; The Ritz Family Restaurant; and Wachovia Bank .
