Education and Celebration at the Atlanta Music Festival

Laquita Mitchell

The Atlanta Music Festival features contemporary acts, but it has a storied past.

  Organized in 1910 as a response to segregated music shows of the time, the Atlanta Colored Music Festival invited everyone to attend and was created by members of First Congregational Church.

Current church pastor Dwight Andrews, along with music director Steven Darsey, reprised the festival in 2001 and have continued the collaboration throughout this week’s 2013 edition. WABE’s Lois Reitzes spoke with the two of them about the idea behind bringing back a festival almost 100 years old.