ADCOLOR announces details of its second annual After Dark concert

(Black PR Wire) NEW YORK, NY -- ADCOLOR, the premier organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting professionals of color and diversity in the creative industries, today announced its 2020 After Dark event will feature a virtual concert by Grammy Award-winning artist Wyclef Jean at the Apollo Theater. The event will close out the ADCOLOR Everywhere conference and mark Wyclef’s first-ever, complete performance of his Grammy-nominated, Double Platinum album, The Carnival. The historic performance, free of charge, will be streamed live from the Apollo stage starting at 8pm EST on September 9, 2020. 

“After such a successful ADCOLOR After Dark concert last year, we knew we had to bring the experience back for this year's virtual event,” said Tiffany R. Warren, Founder and President of ADCOLOR. “It's truly a remarkable moment for our organization to partner with the Apollo on it, and it's all the more iconic with Wyclef doing his first-ever complete performance of The Carnival. I'm here for it, and I know our community will be too.” 

Released in 1997, The Carnival features a revolutionary mix of Haitian creole, rap, world music and pop. The debut album, which includes well-known singles “Guantanamera” and “Gone Till November”, received a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 40th Grammy Awards and peaked at number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Nearly 25 years later, The Carnival continues to be a poignant example of Wyclef’s musicality and his influence on the music industry at large. 

“Stepping on the Apollo stage back in 1996 accomplished one of the greatest goals I had as a young Fugee, so it really feels like I’m coming home by having the opportunity to perform at the theater again,” said Haitian American rapper, musician and actor, Wyclef Jean. “I’ve been wanting to do a complete performance of The Carnival for a while now, and I’m excited that I'm able to combine energies with the Apollo and ADCOLOR to pull it off. All three of us are here to celebrate culture, diversity and the Black American experience, and we’re ready to provide a historic performance that does just that.”

In addition to being ADCOLOR’s second annual After Dark event, the concert will serve as the Apollo Theater’s fall 2020 season opener. 

"We are thrilled that Wyclef Jean is returning to the Apollo Stage, 24 years since his very first performance in 1996, to celebrate his boundary-pushing album," said Apollo Theater Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes. "For more than eight decades, the Apollo has been a beacon of Black creativity and provided a home to diverse voices. We are excited to partner with ADCOLOR to share his historic performance with the Apollo family and audiences around the globe as we kick off our fall season."

The historic event will be streamed live to audiences everywhere via ADCOLOR’s virtual event site, Facebook, YouTube and Twitch, as well as the Apollo’s Digital Stage. For additional information, please continue to visit https://adcoloreverywhere.virtualeventsite.com and follow @adcolor on social media.

ABOUT ADCOLOR

ADCOLOR® is a not-for-profit 501(c) (6) organization whose mission is to celebrate and champion diversity in the creative industries. Our process is twofold. First, we help individuals and organizations RISE UP, letting their accomplishments and ideas shine. Then we teach these new leaders and would-be-mentors how to REACH BACK and find others who deserve to be noticed and promoted. Our goal is to create a community of diverse professionals who are here to support and uplift one another. Learn more by visiting www.adcolor.org.

ABOUT THE APOLLO THEATER

'The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo Theater is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals, largescale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly and Miri Ben Ari; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information about the Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org

#   #   #