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Ms. Rhoda Blount
We honor, respect and
love Ms. Rhoda Blount
for her many years
of love for the children and the performing arts
Unity Community
Center / Universal African Dance & Drum Ensemble
Brother Robert & Sister Wanda Dickerson
Rhoda
A.
Blount
Rhoda A. Blount
began her career in the music industry in 1982
as the Promotional Coordinator for the Kool Jazz Festival working
with internationally acclaimed jazz artists that included Miles Davis,
Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Blakely, Lionel Hampton &
Orchestra, Joe Henderson, Sarah Vaughan, Mongo Santamaria, Freddie
Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Dave Brubeck, McCoy Tyner, Joe Williams, Wynton
Marsalis, Odetta, Diane Schurr, Tito Puente, Patti Austin, Flora Pruim,
Mavis Staples, Celia Cruz, Tania Maria, and many other legendary
artists.
In
1985 Blount began her 10-year tenure as the Jazz Program Director at the
Afro-American Historical & Cultural Museum where she annually
produced the award winning “Jazz Live Series” and the 12-hour jazz
marathon, “Jazz ‘Til Sunrise”. Blount’s headline concerts featured:
Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, Abdullah
Ibrahaim, Cecil Taylor, Randy Weston, Hugh Masekea, Don Cherry, Archie
Shepp, Shirley Horn, Terrance Blanchard, Chicago Art Ensemble – for
example.
From
1988– 1996 Blount was the Artistic Director for the PECO Energy Jazz
Festival, the 10-day citywide festival where she presented artists
such as: Nancy Wilson, Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, Count Basie
Orchestra, Duke Ellington Orchestra, George Shearing, Dorothy Dongean,
Ramsey Lewis, Pharaoh Sanders, Miriam Makeba, Jon Lucien, Regina Carter,
Clark Terry, Dave Valentin, David Murray, Jackie McLean, James Moody,
Heath Brothers, and other renowned musicians.
As a producing consultant, Blount worked
with the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts as
Program Director producing such acts as: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gerri
Allen, Clarence Carter, Gloria Lynne, Horace Silver, Marion McPartland,
Mahotella Queens, Joe Zawinul, Les McCann, Johnny Griffin, Donald Byrd,
Joe Lavano, Branford Marsalis, Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Heath and
others.
Blount offered her talents as
consulting artistic producer for these institutions as well: The Mann
Center for the Performing Arts; American Jazz Museum;
Thomas Jefferson University; Philadelphia Convention & Visitors
Bureau; Mellon Jazz Festival; Odunde Festival; WDAS-Unity Day;
Volunteers of America; Philadelphia Folklore Project; Black Family
Reunion Cultural Festival and the Black Theater Festival. She
also served as Special Projects Director at New Freedom Theatre,
and Development Director at Temple University’ Public Radio station
WRTI-FM. Blount also toured throughout the U.S. and Europe as a
singer/dancer with the legendary Sun Ra & his Arkestra.
In 1998 Blount became the
Education/Outreach Director at The Mann Center creating multicultural
programs in theater, music, and dance for young people. Under Blount’s
leadership, to date, the annual free “Young People Concert Series” has
attracted more than 247,000 enthusiastic youngsters throughout the
Delaware Valley region. She created the “Connecting Arts-N-Schools”
outreach initiative project exposing more than 25,000 inner-city
children to the performing arts. In April 2007, she created 6-new
expanded educational programs at the newly built Field Education &
Outreach Center at The Mann introducing more than 3,500 children with
Master Class/Workshop Series, Meet the Artists Series, In Touch w/Tiny
Tots Series, and the Greenfield Performance Treasures Series.
Blount’s mission is
to give every young person the opportunity to be exposed, inspired, and
enlightened by the performing arts. “I want our young people to
experience the sights, sounds, and rhythms that celebrate the magic and
richness of the performing arts from around the world.”
 
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