| This Juneteenth, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will bring Grammy Award-winning artists to Montgomery, with concerts happening downtown on June 18 and 19. EJI will also offer FREE ADMISSION to the Legacy Sites on Juneteenth. Wednesday, June 18th On the evening of Wednesday, June 18, gospel music legends Yolanda Adams and Donald Lawrence and Company will perform at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center. Adams and Lawrence are the recipients of numerous Grammy Awards, respectively. Tickets to the Wednesday night gospel concert are on sale now. Thursday, June 19th On Juneteenth, EJI will offer free admission to the Legacy Sites: The Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the newly-opened Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. Open all day, the Legacy Sites offer visitors an immersive journey through American History. Visitors can learn more and plan their visit here. To celebrate the meaning of Juneteenth, a free musical performance by Jason Max Ferdinand and his choir, the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, will take place at 12 noon. Located at the Peace and Justice Memorial Center in Montgomery, the uplifting celebration will also feature remarks about the importance of Juneteenth. This event on Thursday is free and open to the public. Grammy Award-winning artists Cécile McLorin Salvant and Terence Blanchard will complete the Juneteenth celebration with a jazz concert the evening of Thursday, June 19, at the Peace and Justice Memorial Center in Montgomery. The night of jazz will mark the end of two days of uplifting celebration, artistry, and education. Tickets to the Thursday-night jazz concert are on sale now. About Yolanda Adams Yolanda Adams is a powerhouse of contemporary gospel music who has touched the hearts and souls of millions around the world. She has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and garnered numerous accolades, including four Grammy Awards, sixteen Stellar Awards, and seven NAACP Image Awards. She made history as the first gospel artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song and the American Music Award. In 2016, President Barack Obama honored her with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer service, and in 2017, she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. About Donald Lawrence Donald Lawrence is the man who wears many musical colors. Those seven words eloquently capture the multifaceted essence of Donald Lawrence. Songwriter. Producer. Composer. Music/choir director. Recording artist. The guiding force behind such No. 1 hits as “Encourage Yourself,” “Back II Eden” and “The Blessing of Abraham.” Equally at home in both the inspirational and contemporary arenas, the multiple Grammy and Stellar Award winner has collaborated with a diverse roster, including such marquee names as Karen Clark Sheard, Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, En Vogue and Mary J. Blige. About Jason Ferdinand Jason Ferdinand is the founding artistic director of The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers: An Ensemble of Exceptional Talents, and is director of choral activities, and professor at the University of Maryland. He is a published author and composer with GIA Publications, featuring the book, Teaching with Heart: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through Music, and The Jason Max Ferdinand Choral Series (Walton Music). About Cécile McLorin Salvant Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer, and visual artist. Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, theater, jazz, baroque and folkloric music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for “The Window”, “Dreams and Daggers”, and “For One To Love”, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album “WomanChild”. About Terence Blanchard Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies – past and present. A true “Renaissance” man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundary-breaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras and for his own ensembles. An eight-time Grammy Winner and twice Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard became only the second African-American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards, duplicating Quincy Jones’ feat from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple. About Equal Justice Initiative The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer and best-selling author of Just Mercy, EJI is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We work with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment, and we are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI is dedicated to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We provide legal assistance to death row prisoners, confront abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aid children prosecuted as adults. EJI has recently launched new programs aimed at reducing poverty in America, including a massive program to address food insecurity and a health clinic providing free care to vulnerable populations. EJI also manages the Legacy Sites, which includes the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. These new national landmark institutions chronicle the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, and the connection to contemporary issues of racial bias. 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