Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center will celebrate East St. Louis’s birthday with a journey through local history. The Center will also honor celebrities, culture and art of the past, present and future while reintroducing the Center’s Performing Arts program to the East St. Louis community.
An array of festivities is planned for the commemoration:
• Gospel Night – 7 p.m., Thursday, April 3, will feature performances by the Anointed Hands Mime Ministry of the New Shining Light Church, Venice; SIUE Gospel Choir and the SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School Gospel Choir. Past and present SIUE East St. Louis Center Performing Arts students will be highlighted in a special presentation.
• A Tribute to Rhythm and Blues Night – 7 p.m. Friday, April 4 will spotlight Brock Walker and his Earth, Wind and Fire Tribute Band.
• “And the Verdict is. . . . A Campus Reaction to the Trayvon Martin Case” – 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, will be presented by the SIUE Black Theater Workshop.
All events will take place in the Multi-Purpose Room in Building at the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus, 601 James R. Thompson Blvd. in East St. Louis.
All performances are free and open to the public. However, due to limited seating, admission tickets are required. To reserve a ticket, contact Ginny Burkhart at 618-482-6904 or vburkha@siue.edu.
East St. Louis has a long, rich history and one that involves the performing arts. The city has cultivated exceptional talent such as Katherine Dunham, world renowned dancer, choreographer, anthropologist and social activist; Miles Davis, American jazz musician and trumpeter extraordinaire; and Dr. Eugene B. Redmond, SIUE English professor emeritus and East St. Louis poet laureate.
“Therefore, we at the SIUE East St. Louis Center thought it would be fitting to have a birthday celebration here and acknowledge all the good that has come from and remains in East St. Louis,” said Dr. Andrew Theising, director of the SIUE East St. Louis Center and the Institute for Urban Research.
Theising’s in-depth research on the City of East St. Louis has revealed, among other things, that it was first established in 1808 and was known as Illinois City. The city became Illinoistown in 1817, and in 1861 Illinoistown merged with a neighboring community to form East St. Louis.
Dunham came to East St. Louis in the 1960s and made it her second home. To reach out, motivate and educate the youth in the area, Dunham formed the Performing Arts Training Center (PATC) in 1967.
“PATC provided classes to students and community members to develop rich local talent and cultivate a love of the arts,” Theising said. “Classes often culminated in musical and theatrical productions to the delight of the community. Though the program declined in recent years and offered fewer community events, it is bouncing back in 2014.” The April festivities encompass the revitalization of the Performing Arts program at the SIUE East St. Louis Center.
“We ask for support in making this program as successful as possible for students in and around East St. Louis and for the community at large,” Theising said. “Opportunities to partner with us include providing scholarships for underprivileged students to attend performing arts classes, the purchase of necessary equipment and supplies for students, and securing venues for performances.”
For more information, contact Burkhart.
SIUE East St. Louis Center: With a focus on empowering people and strengthening communities, the SIUE East St. Louis Center is dedicated to improving the lives of families and individuals—from pre-school through adult—in the Metro East region. The Center offers programs that give the community renewed hope and an opportunity to reach educational, career and life goals. It does so by providing comprehensive programs, services and training in the areas of education, health, social services and the arts.
Photo Information:
SIUE Photo #1: Former Performing Arts student Venezia Manuel salutes a high kick to the Madame of Black Dance, Katherine Dunham.
SIUE Photo #2: Performing Arts staff member, E.K. Wilkes, plays guitar in a musical number with former students of the SIUE East St. Louis Center Performing Arts program.
SIUE Photo #3: Former high school students in the Performing Arts program conclude a dance routine during a previous black history program.