Black College Band Exhibition to Open Next Week in Dallas,Texas

The mission of the And The Band Played On" exhibition is to document and educate exhibition visitors, through a representative collection of photographs and multimedia communications forms depicting the Black College Band; where its been and where its going.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) September 18, 2004 -- Band aficionados, band directors, band members and black college football fans anxiously await the opening of the Black College Band Exhibition, And the Band Played On: Why Black People Really Go to College Football Games at the African-American Museum of Dallas on September 22, 2004.

I cant wait" said Lloyd Inglehart, who played in the Prairie View Marching Storm" band. Im excited about the attention bands like Prairie View and Grambling will receive from this project."

The exhibition will be housed at the African American Museum, located in Fair Park, in the Rotunda Gallery. The exhibition will run from September 22-November 21st with special promotions planned for the Texas State Fair and the State Fair Classic game featuring Prairie View vs. Grambling. A Game Day" reception is planned for October 2, 2004 at the Museum.

The Sports Communications firm, BSPIN Media Group, and the African-American Museum of Dallas have teamed up to launch the first-ever exhibition honoring Black College marching bands. John Posey is serving as Curator of the show. The exhibition will feature more than 100 images of bands from across the country. The images were shot by John and Mercedes Posey. Two television monitors will run band performances from Florida A&M, Prairie View, Defeat the Beat" Battle of the Bands and Paul Quinn College.

Twenty colleges will be featured including: Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Bethune-Cookman, Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M, Grambling, Jackson State, Johnson C. Smith, Mississippi Valley

State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Paul Quinn, Southern University, South Carolina State, University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Prairie View A&M, Tennessee State, Tuskeegee, and Virginia State.

This exhibit looks to be one of the most exciting weve ever mounted, and we want to extend it past the closing date of the State Fair of Texas to reach people who would rather not try to come to the park during the fair and deal with the extra congestion of that time," said Dr. Harry Robinson.

The mission of the And The Band Played On" exhibition is to document and educate exhibition visitors, through a representative collection of photographs and multimedia communications forms that depict the Black College Band; where its been and where its going.," explained Posey.

The exhibition will have special emphasis on Prairie View A&M, Southern University, Florida A&M and Grambling. The photographic and multimedia exhibition will be designed around themes such as: Drum Lines; Halftime is Showtime; Drum Majors; and HBCU Dance Auxiliaries. There will be a special display area featuring the Prairie View drumLine The BOX". A section has been added to honor band directors, Dr. William Foster (Florida A&M), Dr. Isaac Greggs (Southern University) and George Edwards (Prairie View). There will also be a section of the exhibit highlighting the movie, DrumLine. The exhibition also houses memorabilia including programs, books, sketches, historical information and items from the personal collection of Dr. William Foster..

Posey is a noted sports photo journalist who also publishes Urban Sports News. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College. Mercedes Posey is a college student who attends Richland College. She learned photography at the age of ten and was a finalist for the 2004 College Photographer of the Year. She assisted in the selection and placement of images.

Black College bands created the Sport of Marching. If youve ever seen a band practice, what they do on the field is definitely sports," said Posey. With every performance, Black College bands add another chapter to Black History. Black College bands transcend the barrier of race and offer a forum for understanding a people. It is the nature of the fine line between entertainment, showmanship and traditional band routines that spells the dynamic of Black College Bands."

On an historical note, many well-known entertainers have performed in Black College Bands. Branford Marsalis and Maurice Brown played at Southern University; Nat and Cannonball Adderly are former Florida A&M

Marching 100 members; the Jazz Crusaders, Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson, and Stix Hooper played at the Texas Southern; Terry Ellis and the singing group IDEAL are alumni of the Prairie View Marching Storm"; jazz saxophonist, Hank Crawford marched with the Tennessee State Aristocrat of Bands;" Kirk Whalum, Ronnie Laws and Hubert Laws are alumni of the Texas Southern band.
   
Founded in 1974 as part of the Bishop College Special Collection, the African American Museum is located in historic Fair Park and boasts the Southwests largest folk art collection. The Museum also houses the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame. The African American Museum is a Smithsonian affiliate and is supported in part by funds from the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

I think this is a great thing Mr. Posey is doing," said Robert Simpson, Band Director at Paul Quinn College and a former member of the Bishop College Band.

Q2 Communications and Texas Instruments have provided support for the And the Band Played On exhibition.

And the Band Played On is being developed to serve as a traveling exhibition in 2005. Posey would like to see the exhibition rotate between Black Colleges, museums, HBCU football classics and homecomings.

We conceivably could put this exhibition up at a major special event, in late 2004, like Bayou Classic if we could work out details with the event producers."

Digital Images Are Available on Request

Contact:       
John Posey
BSPIN Media Group
214/929-8573 (voice)
972-387-0827 (fax)    
urbansportsnews@yahoo.com
      
Mercedes Posey
Urban Sports News
214-621-5805 (voice)

Lee Taylor
African American Museum
214-565-9026, ext. 313
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