Americana music merges multiple shared American musical traditions from across the United States, specifically those from the South. Gospel, blues, country, jazz, and many other genres make up much of what we know as Americana today. Celebrate Ameri’Kana, a free festival in Concourse Park in the Historic Northeast neighborhood of Kansas City, is back again this year to bring the community together through a shared love of music and the musicians who inspired Americana. The festival supports Art as Mentorship, a local nonprofit empowering our city’s youth.
Art as Mentorship was officially founded in 2017 by Enrique Chi, lead guitarist and vocalist for the Latin Grammy-nominated and Kansas City-based band Making Movies, but the nonprofit’s story began years earlier. Erika Noguera, now the communications strategist for Art as Mentorship, was working as the community programs director for Mattie Rhodes 12 years ago. “Making Movies approached us about doing a music camp as a way to give back,” she says. “They said, ‘We’re doing some new things, we’re growing, and we’d love to do a music camp for the kids who come to the center.’” Today, that music camp has grown into a year-round nonprofit organization, including a full-time staff and a 12-week program called the Rebel Song Academy. Noguera describes it as a mental health program using songwriting to empower youth.
The music of Making Movies has always touched on identity and place according to Noguera, and the group’s mission is expanding through Art as Mentorship’s programming, including a partnership with the national initiative One Nation/One Project. Several Kansas City, Kansas, schools will pilot the organization’s flagship 12-week music program this fall. “It’s really about bringing kids together in a safe space, giving them confidence and inviting them to share what they’re feeling, then giving them a few tools to put that to music,” says Noguera, “It culminates at the end of 12 weeks with a public performance.” The program has previously been brought to The Boys and Girls Club of Topeka, Kansas City International Academy, and Paseo Academy.
Celebrate Ameri’Kana took shape during the pandemic to support the community and the students. “The festival exists to bring the community together, but also to be a pipeline for the students who go through the program,” Noguera says. “If they do choose a path in music—how are people doing it? It helps them see and connect with national professionals and be that throughline to get kids connected.” The festival brings together community partners and activists in a family environment. Graduates from the Rebel Song Academy are set to perform alongside Grammy award-winning bands, including Los Texmaniacs.
The name of the festival, Celebrate Ameri’Kana, comes from the phonetic pronunciation of the word. “It’s acknowledging that these rhythms of popular music today are not actually white. It’s not white music. It’s the Black and Brown people from Africa up through the Americas that are the heart of Americana music,” says Noguera. “It celebrates those music makers who carried those rhythms and who are, to this day, producing music that can be considered Americana.” The community arts and music festival serves a variety of higher purposes, not least of which is funding for Art as Mentorship. “At the heart of it is community,” says Noguera. “For the kids, it’s tying back to finding their purpose. For the band, it’s giving back and bringing up people behind them.”
Celebrate Ameri’Kana takes place at Concourse Park on September 10 and is free to the community. A pre-party at The Ship kicks off the festivities on September 9, with performances by Enrique Chi, Duncan Burnett, Talibah Safiya, and others. Find more details here.