It stages a citywide music festival in July dubbed the Big Gig. The two-week extravaganza features more than 50 performances by classical, jazz, rock and American folk artists. The group also sponsors Friday Cheers, a series of free Friday evening concerts featuring local and regional pop groups, held May through September in Festival Park. The 2 Street Festival will be held the first weekend in October in Jackson Ward, a neighborhood that was the heart of the black business community and cultural life in the 1930s and 1940s. The festival celebrates that cultural heritage with music of the era, movies in the old Hippodrome Theater, walking tours and exhibitions.
All events are free.