Arts, Events, Video August 10, 2011

Birmingham Arts and Music Festival returns with 170 acts, new workshops

Birmingham Arts and Music Festival

The Birmingham Arts and Music Festival hits town this weekend in nearly two
dozen venues across downtown, Southside and Avondale.

Birminghamians will have another opportunity to celebrate the Year of Alabama Music with the Birmingham Arts and Music Festival this weekend. In its second year, the event showcases artists from around Alabama and the Southeast in a multi-venue, 3-day party.

“We really strived to create an energy which would allow for attendees to experience every facet of arts and music throughout the city,” said Kelly Marshall, BAAM public relations chair. “We hope to give musicians an opportunity to showcase their talents throughout one energized weekend.”

Spanning a wide diversity of genres, festival-goers will have the opportunity to check out funk, jazz, rock, spoken word poetry, blues, gospel, comedy and dance. About 170 acts are housed within 21 venues, including the Bottletree Cafe in Avondale, B.O.S.S. Ultra Lounge and Zydeco on Southside and Speakeasy downtown.

New events include workshops for artists and cultural experiences for families located at the Experience Venues: ArtPlay on Southside and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham Museum of Art and McWane Science Center downtown. One of the more interesting workshops, “The Business of the Music,” will focus on how musicians can sustain themselves; the free event takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Artists include hRom, Jon Byrd and Byrd’s Auto Parts, Shaundra T. Smith, Burning Vinyl, the Magic Math, N’Dambi, Flow Tribe, Neo Jazz Collective, Kendra Sutton, Royal and Toulouse, Dear August, SharBaby, Sanyasi and Dub Massive.

The Birmingham Arts and Music Festival starts at 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, past midnight each night. Tickets are $18 per day and available at all venues, or $40 for a 3-day pass and available online.

Eleven free events are also on the schedule, and a free kickoff party takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Railroad Park.

For more information, visit the Birmingham Arts and Music Festival website.

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