FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@nurfc.org
Obama Foundation executive Dr. Adren Wilson to keynote with Adrian Dunn and The Adrian Dunn Singers performing; tickets available now
CINCINNATI – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced that Obama Foundation executive Dr. Adren Wilson will keynote its 2024 King Legacy Celebration. The annual celebration of the life and leadership of civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will feature Dr. Wilson’s inspiring call to action and live performances by critically acclaimed Adrian Dunn and The Adrian Dunn Singers. The 2024 King Legacy Celebration is Monday, January 15, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Tickets are available now.
Dr. Adren Wilson is the Vice President of Youth Opportunity Programs and Executive Director of the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. The national call to action initiative build safe and supportive communities where boys and young men of color have more transparent and equitable pathways to opportunity. Dr. Wilson is driving this work forward in his role, leveraging local leaders, nonprofits, corporations, philanthropy and residents to lead sustainable change at the community level. He will bring that spirit and message of youth-driven, community-up change to the Freedom Center’s King Legacy Celebration and its 2024 theme of Advocacy and Action.
“Dr. King showed us that true change, though it may be codified at the national level, starts at the local level, right here in our communities,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “In 2024, we know that the talent and courageous action of the younger generation, who stand on the shoulders of Dr. King and his allies, are instrumental in driving significant social change. This generation of conductors is growing up in an era of greater visibility to and participation in government. It demands greater accountability from the nation of liberty and justice for all. Nobody knows that better than Dr. Wilson, who leads this critical initiative to engage youth in their communities so that groundswell carries today’s issues to Capitol Hill and the White House.”
The 2024 King Legacy Celebration will also feature performances by Adrian Dunn and Chicago’s only all Black professional choral ensemble, The Adrian Dunn Singers. Dunn is an acclaimed singer, composer and conductor who most recently was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Live Sound for his PBS special performance of Emancipation at Harris Theater, which is currently streaming in rotation on PBS. Emancipation was composed by Dunn and performed by the Adrian Dunn Singers and the Rize Orchestra, fusing classical, gospel, hip hop and spirituals to explore the question: what does it mean to be Black and free in American in the 21st century? Dunn has also won The American Prize in Composition for Requiem from The Mass for the Unarmed Child (2022) and was named among the Top 10 Classical Music & Jazz Performances of 2021 by the Chicago Tribune. He made his composer and conducting debut with The Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2021. Dunn and The Adrian Dunn Singers performed the film score for the 2022 major motion picture Honk for Jesus, starring Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall.
The King Legacy Celebration will include a continental breakfast and an opportunity for fellowship before the program begins. Doors open at 8 a.m. with performances and the keynote presentation at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets for the King Legacy Celebration at $50 for the in-person program or $25 for livestream access. Discounted tickets are available for Freedom Center Members at $40 for the in-person program or $20 for livestream access. Tickets are available at freedomcenter.org/klc24.
