Join Urban Artistry for the 3rd Annual International Soul Society Festival held April 10-17, 2011 at various venues throughout the Nation’s Capital, USA.
MISSION STATEMENT: The International Soul Society Festival is a global initiative to gather practitioners and enthusiasts from across the world in celebration of urban dance, music and arts culture.
HISTORY: The International Soul Society Festival was founded by a society of soulful creatives in the Washington, DC Metro Area and their affiliates both locally and abroad. Initially sponsored by a small grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County the event grew to serve over 600 local, national and international guests in the first two years alone. Bringing artists together from Memphis, Seoul, New York, Sofia, Stuttgart, San Francisco, Cape Town, Phoenix, Helsinki, Atlanta, Copenhagen, Montreal, Philadelphia, London, Baltimore, Stockholm and everywhere in between this unique festival creates an opportunity for cultural ambassadors from many backgrounds to find a mutual respect for one another through the competition, performance and education of urban dance, music and arts culture.
The festival is organized annually by a carefully chosen group of industry professionals who graciously donate their time and experience to help further this global initiative and the mission of the Urban Artistry Project.
Urban Artistry, an International Culture and Education Project based in the DC Metro Area is a 501(c)(3) non-profit collective of dancers, artists, historians, musicians, folklorists and documentary filmmakers on a mission to preserve and continue the practice of urban dance, music and arts culture. They are known for providing authentic, focused and professional events, competitions, performances and educational programming to those who seek knowledge and understanding of the rich traditions behind the ever-changing movement found in urban arts communities. Their works reflects on the roots of popular dances such as hip hop, house dance and breakdance by bringing attention to movements that came before these trends in genres such as Tap, Lindy Hop, Traditional Jazz, African, Latin and Martial Arts.
Noteworthy performances for the group include: The US Embassy, Sofia Bulgaria; SADE Festival, Helsinki Finland; World Dance Coliseum, Japan; The Conservatory of Korea, Seoul, Korea; Ill-reality Theater Productions, Philadelphia PA; House Dance International, NYC; The Kennedy Center, Washington DC; The Harman Center for the Arts, Washington DC and The BreakFestival in Los Angeles, California.
