While COVID-19 protocols have cancelled all gatherings and events, the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King cannot be cancelled. In a creative pivot under the stress of COVID restrictions, DreamKreator Studio and the esteemed business development organization Leadership Long Beach are collaborating with newly elected Long Beach City Councilmember Dr. Suely Saro to present a virtual experience for the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. The Long Beach MLK Virtual Day of Celebration & Service will be a unique and innovative virtual experience that will reinforce the longstanding message of community service while showcasing and celebrating the arts and culture of our Beloved Community.

The Long Beach MLK Virtual Day of Celebration and Service will be an inspirational experience that, while virtual, continues to celebrate and showcase the city’s vibrant community underscored by Leadership Long Beach’s tradition of volunteerism and service. LLB’s partner organizations will share their perspectives and experiences in service, sharing past triumphs and expressing hopes for the future. DreamKreator Studio will curate and produce a lineup of exceptional cultural expressions from a lineup of local and nationally known music artists, leaders and influencers from the arts, community leaders and inspirational sectors. All presented in a virtual, yet exciting arts-driven expression of hope and peace in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

During the virtual event the Arts Council will announce its Art Kit Giveaway to local youth in Long Beach. To celebrate Black History Month, the Arts Council for Long Beach has created Phase 2 of our Art Kits, generously sponsored by the Port of Long Beach to giveaway 1000 Art Kits. This kit will help families paint with watercolors, sketch a design, cut paper tesserae (Italian for any materials used to make mosaics) and glue your shapes inside your mosaic design. Our hope is that this lesson will get families thinking about how much Black Communities have given us in musical themes of GRATITUDE, COURAGE and LOVE. We ask students and families to share their artworks with us by posting them to Instagram or Facebook and tagging us.  When you do, they will become part of a Virtual Exhibition.

The Long Beach MLK Day of Celebration and Service will take place on Monday, January 18 on a digital device near you starting at 10am. For more information, please log on at www.dreamkreator.org, www.LeadershipLB.org  and www.beachcityradio.com.