The Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is pleased to announce that a free panel discussion will immediately follow National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master Regina Carter’s 6 p.m. live performance on Wednesday, April 5 at Trustees Theater, located at 216 E. Broughton St. in Savannah, Ga. The discussion, which is part of the 2023 Savannah Music Festival, will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

MacArthur “Genius” Artist Award recipient Regina Carter will make her SMF debut with her original project Gone in a Phrase of Air, which explores the impact of urban renewal on African-American and immigrant communities beginning in the 1950s and the displacement of people and their respective cultures in Carter’s hometown of Detroit as well as neighborhoods in St. Louis, Chicago and New York City. In the work’s collection of original and reimagined music of the era, Carter shines a spotlight on what’s been lost — gone in a phrase of air — and finds celebration in the ashes.

“At the Savannah Music Festival, we’re dedicated to expanding our community outreach efforts and are finding new ways to make this year’s festival even more inclusive,” said SMF Executive Director Gene Dobbs Bradford, who will serve as the moderator for this special panel discussion. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase Regina Carter’s project Gone in a Phrase of Air as an example of how music can start important conversations that have the potential to transform our community and to change lives.”

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will address the impact of urban renewal and gentrification — both locally and nationally — and will feature first-hand accounts and moving personal experiences shared by three esteemed panelists, including:

Regina Carter, an acclaimed violinist who enjoys performing many styles of music, from jazz and R&B to Latin and classical music. To date, Carter has been nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Improvised Solo and performed on Eddie Palmieri’s GRAMMY Award-winning album Listen Here! as well as Kenny Barron’s GRAMMY-nominated album Freefall. She also made history as the first non-classical violinist to play Niccolò Paganini’s Il Cannone (“The Cannon”). A Detroit native, Carter began studying violin at the age of four and continued her training at the New England Conservatory of Music and Oakland University. She first gained attention with Straight Ahead, an all-female jazz quintet, and gained experience recording and touring with The String Trio of New York for six years. A current Manhattan School of Music faculty member, Carter previously served as an artist in residence at the Oakland University School of Music, Theatre and Dance; a resident artist for San Francisco Performances; resident artistic director for SFJazz; and artistic director of the New Jersey Performing Arts All-Female Jazz Residency.

Otis Johnson, the former Mayor of the City of Savannah, Ga. and author of From ‘N Word’ to Mr. Mayor: Experiencing the American Dream. Johnson is a lifelong public servant who has improved the lives of Savannah’s citizens through his previous roles with The Economic Authority for Savannah Chatham County, Inc., the Savannah Model Cities Program, Savannah State University, Savannah City Council and the Chatham Savannah Youth Futures Authority. Acclaimed for his positive and effective leadership, Johnson has been named to Georgia Trend’s list of the “Most Influential Georgians” twice, was awarded the MLK Lifetime Achievement Award and was recently honored with the 2022 Southeast Georgia Legacy Leadership Award. The first African-American graduate of Armstrong State University (now Georgia Southern University), Johnson went on to earn a B.A. in History from the University of Georgia, an M.S.W. from Clark Atlanta University and a Ph.D. in Social Work from Brandeis University.

Jerome B. Meadows, a nationally renowned artist who focuses on the design and fabrication of large-scale public art projects throughout the United States. Some of Meadows’ noteworthy sculptural works include the Portsmouth, N.H. “African Burying Ground,” which was awarded a 2013 NEA Art Works Grant, and the Ed Johnson Memorial in Chattanooga, Tenn. A longtime Savannah, Ga. resident, Meadows served as both the artist and curator for the precedent-setting exhibition “Reframing A Perceptual Paradigm (RAPP)” at the Telfair Museums in 2009 and recently unveiled a new public art installation at Enmarket Arena in Savannah.