Savannah VOICE Festival Announces Artistic Collaboration In Savannah

Savannah VOICE Festival has partnered with leading arts organizations in the city of Savannah including Historic Savannah Foundation/Davenport House Museum and Savannah African Art Museum for a weekend of artistic collaboration on January 22 and 23. The events will include new artists and the new Executive Director, Chad Sonka. They will be joined by presidents and co-founders Maria Zouves and Sherrill Milnes.

Responding to COVID safety needs, the weekend of collaboration will start with a free live-streamed event on the evening of Saturday, January 22. SVF has partnered with the Savannah African Art Museum (SAAM) to create a virtual live experience where SVF artists perform a repertoire of music interspersed with SAAM Chief Curator, Billie Stultz, introducing highlights from the museum's extensive collection of African art. The concert will be streamed from 6-7 p.m. and will be available on SVF's website, www.savannahvoicefestival.org and SAAM's website, www.savannahafricanartmuseum.org.

The next event, which is free and open to the public, takes place on Sunday, January 23 with the inaugural "Songs and Stories in the Squares", a new partnership between SVF and Historic Savannah Foundation. The event will begin at 2 p.m. outside the Davenport House Museum, 324 E State St., Savannah, GA 31401, on Columbia Square. Docents and HSF supporters will give 10-minute lectures in Columbia, Greene, and Crawford Squares and SVF artists will perform selections, two songs in each square, that complement the theme of the lectures. Artists include Chad Sonka, Peter Lake, Kyaunnee Richardson, and Sara Zoe Budnik will present repertoire accompanied by Savannah VOICE Festival Composer-in-Residence, Michael Ching. Contingency plans have been put in place in case of bad weather.

"It is important for us at the Savannah VOICE Festival to support and promote all forms of art and to follow our mission of providing educational and creative programs not only during our August festival, but throughout the year," said Executive Director Chad Sonka. "Even with the growing concerns of COVID-19 in our community, we are incredibly lucky that we have been able to continue these collaborative initiatives outdoors and virtually so we can continue to provide and support the arts in Savannah."

For more information about these events and how to get tickets and/or register, visit www.savannahvoicefestival.org.