***Tickets must now be purchased at the door***

$30/Adults and $15/Students and Seniors

Cash and Check Only

Sponsored by The Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce (MBCC), 501c3 non-profit

Supporters are The Minnesota State Arts Board, American Family, Xcel Energy, Midwest Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC)

On September 17 and 18^th, 7:30pm at the U of M Ridder Ice Arena, the MBCC  and supporters will bring to the Twin Cities a cultural and education concert entitled, “Being Branded.”

MBCC understands that we need to identify what prevents minorities from collaborating, patronizing minority businesses and building alliances to create wealth and success in our communities

 The cultural and education concert is a contemporary fusion of two art forms (modern dance and figure skating) allowing for movement explorations to take place on the ice where traditionally performed jumps and spins adopt an entirely new contextual significance.  The concert’s purpose is to inspire the audience to witness and feel something they have never seen or experienced before: stories and complexities of racial and cultural identity being told on the ice by national and international competitive performers of color (Black, Puerto Rican and East Indian).

 Our top outcomes are to:

1.  Identify what prevents communities from mobilizing, working together and collaborating to create an abundance and strength to support the process of raising our youth

2.      Identify past/psychic branding which has been internalized and perpetuated as toxic self perceptions

3.      Understand what must be done to get beyond these toxic self-perceptions and to improve our professional and personal lives

The concert raises an awareness of the impact of our own toxic conditioning (or branding) has on our day to day lives. Becoming aware of these types of mental struggles and making productive changes to stop the perpetuation of toxic self-beliefs is a very personal journey.  This awareness is cultivated and manifested in a different manner for each individual. Hence, the concert itself, along with the post-concert discussion will inspire individuals to begin this journey.

 This is an event that enables the public to experience the often silenced perspectives, unspoken experiences, and unique situations of artists working in a medium that frequently does not embrace their difference. Giving these artists a medium to express what has been silenced helps pave the way for a broader level of acceptance of the cultural diversity that characterizes the Twin Cities community.