M E D I A  A D V I S O R Y

April 30, 2018 – Richmond, Virginia: Southside Big Tent Community Festival – United by Music will kick- off with Bio Ritmo performing with the Richmond Symphony under the Big Tent on Friday, May 18, 2018! Saturday, May 19th will be a Family Day with a Kids Zone (skateboarding, yoga, and more) and performances by: Legacy Band VA, The Bush League, Salsa Guy’s Bomba y Plena, Los Aquilas del Norte and culminating with a Dance Party with DJ Missing and Edwin Roa!

The Festival is being organized by a group of community, non-profit and business partners with a goal of strengthening the local neighborhood and by bringing together the diverse populations on the Southside. To that end, festival partners include individuals and organizations representing diverse communities. The site for the festival was chosen at the request of the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, to boost awareness of the facility and help build/establish programming.

As with the previous Big Tent Festivals, this event has the goal of leaving lasting benefit to the community in the form of funds for music education programs in 8^th and 9^th district public schools.

Through the May 2017 kick-off event, Dia de la Musica, the Symphony and its partners have already provided funds to music programs in eight (8) Richmond Public Schools Elementary Schools in these districts. Each was provided $2,000 for purchase of instruments or other materials, to the discretion of teachers and administrators. Additionally, a pre-kindergarten music program was established at Summer Hill Elementary School. The Symphony is proposing that some of the proceeds raised from the 2018 Southside Festival will be used to fund a second year of the pre-k music program at Summer Hill and provide support for instrument purchase in other district elementary and middle schools, but will again seek guidance from the Southside Community, RPS and the City to make final determinations.

Event Programming

Friday, May 18, 2019: 5:00 – 8:00pm – Richmond Symphony Evening Performance under the Big Tent with Bio Ritmo.

Saturday, May 19, 2019: 12:00 – 7:30pm – Family Day including: a Kids Zone (skateboarding, yoga, and more) and performances by: Legacy Band VA, The Bush League, Salsa Guy’s Bomba y Plena, Los Aquilas del Norte and culminating with a Dance Party with DJ Missing and Edwin Roa!

Free parking and shuttle service available from: Celebration Church and Manchester YMCA .

No festival parking available at the Southside Community Center.

For more information and to view the full list of activities and events as they are confirmed, visit: https://www.richmondsymphony.com/community/southside-community-festival-2018-united-music/

In addition to the City of Richmond departments listed above, partners for the Southside Community Festival include: Anthem, Black Restaurant Week, Faces of Hope, Richmond Public Schools, Zabor Dance, Sacred Heart Church, The Marcs Agency, Venue Skateboards, WBTK Poder 1380AM, The Choice 105.3FM.

The Southside Big Tent Community Festival is made possible through generous sponsorship from City of Richmond, Weinstein Properties, The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia and Bank of America and through in-kind support from the Manchester YMCA and Celebration Church