From THE ART TATUM ZONE
The Art Tatum Zone (ATZ) will host Tatum’s Town PORCH Fest on Sunday, Oct. 9, noon to 3 p.m., 1123 City Park. This inaugural event will include music, comedy, food trucks, birthday cake and opportunities to reimagine the use of Art Tatum’s home.
This outdoor family-friendly fest will honor Tatum’s incomparable contribution to music during the week of his birthday. During this time, ATZ will also spotlight the work being done in the community and around the Junction neighborhood where Tatum’s childhood home is located. There will be musicians performing renowned Tatum selections and highlighting his infamous talent.
Tatum’s Town PORCH Fest is a progressive musical experience that will begin with one stage at Art Tatum’s home and expand to include multiple music venues throughout the neighborhood over the next several years. ATZ is proud to partner with the Art Tatum Jazz Society, Toledo Jazz Orchestra, Great Lakes Jazz Society, Toledo Museum of Art and the Art Tatum African American Resource Center at the Kent Library on this event and the comprehensive work of ATZ.
Rain date for Tatum’s Town PORCH Fest is Sunday, Oct. 16, at the same time and location.
The Tabernacle Church –adjacent to the Art Tatum Family Home- created The Art Tatum Zone to be a comprehensive and integrated framework of programs and services that transform the community and guarantee that children and their families achieve academic excellence, family and housing stability and economic self-sufficiency. Art Tatum’s late niece, Lucille Johnson, entrusted Calvin and Christine Sweeney with the responsibility of restoring his childhood home and preserving his legacy, and charged them to inspire children and community members to create their own legacies.
Arthur Tatum, Jr., known as “Art” was born October 13, 1909 in Toledo, Ohio. By the age of four, Tatum was blind in one eye and visually impaired in the other. A child prodigy, Tatum developed an incredibly fast and accurate playing style that impressed many of the greats inboth jazz and classical music . He went on to be one of the most renowned pianists in the history of the jazz genre.
