ProArts, Jazz Maui to present Juneteenth celebration June 19

ProArts Playhouse and Jazz Maui will present “Joy: A Celebration of Juneteenth” at 7:30 p.m. June 19 at the ProArts Playhouse in Kīhei.

The 75-minute show — presented without intermission — will feature an evening of music, aerial dance, poetry and more in honor of Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

Performing artists include Shea Derrick, Nara Boone, Tanama Colibri, Aida Rose, Joie Yasha Taylor and Rhema Flowers, with Ashton Yarbrough serving as bandleader.

The program celebrates the day in 1865 when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Congress designated June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday, in 2021.

The event is part of the Pono Project, a series of live arts and culture events celebrating community diversity and promoting inclusion of marginalized persons on Maui. The Pono Project is supported in part by the Maui County Office of Economic Development, and special low pricing for the event is made possible through that partnership.

Tickets are available at ProArtsMaui.org or by calling 808-463-6550.