Annual Gospel Festival Continues Virtually
Jan. 14, 2021
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The 31st annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Gospel Festival will take place, virtually, on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021.
The festival will be streamed live via º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ University’s YouTube channel ( ) from 7:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 18. Due to the ongoing pandemic, videos of performances and speakers were submitted and edited together into the two-hour presentation, which will also be made available to watch on-demand.
Presented by º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ University and the United Community Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal, the festival honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke at º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ in 1961 and returned to the University to speak in 1966 after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize . The festival was founded in 1991 by the late Corine Sims and her husband, the Rev. James Sims, with º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ and the United Community Gospel Singers as co-founders.
The 2021 Gospel Festival will feature performances by BCAI – School of Art Praise Team, Doc Smith & The Disciples of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The Fantastic Jones Family of Springfield, Illinois, the º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ University Collegiate Choir, the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church Sunbeam Choir and Holy Hands Puppet Ministry, the United Gospel Singers of Bloomington-Normal Mass Choir, and Voices of Power. The festival will also feature a presentation by Deneane Richburg, Artistic Director and Founder of St. Paul, Minnesota-based .
More information about the Gospel Festival is available by contacting º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ Director of Government and Community Relations Carl Teichman ’80, at (309) 556-3429 or Barbara Sims-Malone, Executive Director of the United Community Gospel Singers, at (309) 706-6638.
By John Twork