The Betsy Hotel presents the 9th Annual Overture to Overtown Festival  (this time, Virtual!). Sponsored by The Betsy Hotel and FIU MBUS. Curated by Carole Ann Taylor and Deborah Briggs. Journey through the history of Overtown, a four-part experience that includes music, poetry, scholarship, and imagery.

The Betsy’s Overture to Overtown 2020 online festival program will feature ten performing jazz artists, three poets, and four scholars. Events will be carried live into patron’s homes via Zoom and Facebook Live. To ensure audio excellence, musical performances will be pre-recorded at The Betsy Hotel while poets and scholars will appear live. Each event will allow time for audience Q&A.

The work of legacy Overtown poets will be celebrated through recitations of poems written by W.E.B Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Muhammed Ali – presented by Geoffrey Philp, the project’s Community Poet in Residence.

View Complete Schedule of Artists & Events