Maya Angelou's grandson was a special guest for the Celebrate! Maya Fifth Anniversary Celebration, held Oct. 18 in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center. The Celebrate! Maya Project is an Arkansas-based nonprofit providing educational programming rooted in the spirit of the late poet.
The Rodney Block Collective provided music for the event for which Pamela Smith was mistress of ceremonies. Janis Kearney, organization founder, welcomed attendees and acknowledged supporters. Guests bid on silent auction items and later, live auction items showcased by Bob Nash and Dr. Adele Holmes. Joelle Storet created live art, also auctioned.
A program highlight was remarks and a partial recitation of "On the Pulse of Morning" -- Angelou's poem for Bill Clinton's first presidential inauguration -- by Angelou's grandson, Elliott Jones, liaison to the Dr. Maya Angelou Foundation board. Also a highlight was the Spirit of Maya awards. These were presented to Pyramid Gallery/Hearne Fine Art owner Garbo Hearne, and Dr. John A. Flowers Sr., representing the Flowers family of Pine Bluff. Rounding out the night was a keynote address by Regine Moore, director of multicultural marketing at Walmart; a poem by Kai Coggin; and remarks by Jamil Eniola, president of the Hen Foundation, a Celebrate! Maya Project partner. Eniola was also presented with an award.
An interpretive dance by Natoya England-Johnson to a song based on an Angelou poem completed the evening, during and after which hors d'oeuvres and libations were served.
The celebration was the second in a three-day fifth-anniversary observance, preceded by the organization's Oct. 17 "FriendRaiser," an evening of music, poetry and food at Little Rock's Trapnall Hall, designed to raise money for scholarships and programs. Taking place Oct. 19 was the Stamps Educational Bus Tour, a visit to the President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site in Hope and Angelou's childhood church and the memorial park in her honor in Stamps.
High Profile on 10/27/2019