IU professor Maultsby served as adviser to Carnegie Hall festival

The Honor! Festival, a celebration of the African-American cultural legacy, has drawn full audiences at Carnegie Hall this month.

A three-week comprehensive survey of African-American expressive arts curated by singer Jessye Norman, the festival drew extensively from the knowledge and resources of IU professor Portia Maultsby.

“From a scholarly, historical research angle of the festival, Norman relied on my presence,” Maultsby said. “I wanted to do what I could to assist in carrying out her goals and objectives of the festival. She was wonderful to work with... It was a perfect opportunity for me to apply my knowledge of the tradition and the various skills that I have as a scholar.”

The festival showcased creative artists in literacy, music, art, dance and theater. More than 100 artists participated, including Cornel West, Toni Morrison, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Imani Winds, Gwen Ifill, KEM, The Roots, Maya Angelou, James Carter and Ray Chew.

Events included concerts from a range of musical genres, panel discussions, interviews and neighborhood participatory concerts. A curriculum for middle schools and a permanent Web site, www.carnegiehall.org/honor, with a history of black music, were also developed as part of the festival.

“Festivals are cultural performances par excellence,” folklorist Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett wrote in “Destination Culture.” They have the “practical advantage of offering in a concentrated form, at a designated time and place, what the tourist would otherwise search out in the diffuseness of everyday life, with no guarantee of ever finding it.”

The Honor! Festival is no exception.

“The Honor! Festival showcases the diversity of African-American musical expression,” said IU professor Mellonee Burnim, who wrote program notes for two of the concerts. “At the same time, it highlights the unitary threads that bind the genres together as cultural expression.”

To Maultsby, a great aspect of the festival is the potential interaction between the attendees and performers.

“It also puts the audience in direct contact with a lot of the artists and a lot of the great works that they might’ve not heard,” she said.

Maultsby’s involvement began as an editorial assistant for the middle school curriculum and artistic adviser for the opening concert. But Norman wanted regular access to a scholar who could help clarify some of the historical information and guide the framing of the festival.

Maultsby became the general consultant for the festival and developed a permanent visual display on the Web site, providing text for each item on a timeline and identifying audio clips that represented each genre. She was also a panelist on two discussions at Carnegie Hall and Apollo Theater.

“It was very, very intense,” Maultsby said, as her involvement became like a full-time job. “I worked on that day and night for over three months.”

Burnim said that dedication paid off.

“Dr. Maultsby’s engagement with the project was infectious,” she said.

Burnim and Maultsby have collaborated on several academic and performance projects, and the festival was a “wonderful opportunity to translate my academic research for a broad public audience and increase awareness and understanding of the cultural and historical meanings embodied in African-American religious music,” Burnim said.

“It was a lot of work,” Maultsby said. “It took a lot of time. It was intense, but it was absolutely enjoyable.”