***Tickets must now be purchased at the door***

$50 - Cash and Check only

On September 17th  and 18th, the MBCC will bring to the Twin Cities a cultural education concert, “Being Branded”, to generate awareness around the branding that minorities have had in their past and to stimulate individuals to move beyond those stereotypes. This cultural event will start with a networking pre-concert reception at  6:00 p.m.; performance at 7:30 p.m.; and post concert discussion at  9 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Ridder Ice Arena, 1901 4th St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455.  MBCC believes that this concert and discussion will be the beginning of a journey for us to improve our professional and personal lives. 

MBCC understands that we need to identify what prevents minorities from collaborating, patronizing minority businesses and building alliances to create wealth and success in our communities. A free community modern dance/figure skating concert on the ice will be provided to an audience of more than 1,500 (including high school, college students, and the Twin Cities community) that addresses the personal politics of race, identity, culture, branding and precarious socio-culture mores that dominate western civilization. A post-concert discussion will follow this concert.

The cultural education concert is a contemporary emergence of two art forms (modern dance and figure skating) allowing for movement explorations to take place on the ice where traditionally performed jumps and spins adopt an entirely new contextual significance.  The concert’s purpose is to inspire the audience to witness and feel something they have never seen or experienced before: stories and complexities of racial and cultural identity being told on the ice by national and international competitive performers of color (Black, Puerto Rican and East Indian).

Our top outcomes are to:

1.      Identify what prevents minorities from collaborating, patronizing minority businesses and building alliances to create wealth and success in our communities

2.      Identify past/psychic branding which has been internalized and perpetuated as toxic self perceptions

3.      Understand what must be done to get beyond these toxic self-perceptions and to improve our professional and personal lives

MBCC’s vision is consistent to our place in history.  As people in business and as an association of businesses, the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce promotes and improves the general welfare, prosperity, and inter-connectedness of our community.

The chamber became an affiliate of the National Black Chamber of Commerce in 2004 and received its’ 501(c3) status in 2005.  The Chamber acknowledges the commerce generated from disparities and the un-aggregated consumerism of our community. We promote strategies to capture the revenues to secure economic benefits in the following ways:

·         Providing education to our businesses;

·         Monitoring and recruiting business opportunities for our businesses;

·         Providing access to capital through our alliances; and

·         Supporting other organizations that support our businesses.

This is an event that enables the public to experience the often silenced perspectives, unspoken experiences, and unique situations of artists working in a medium that frequently does not embrace their difference. Giving these artists a medium to express what has been silenced helps pave the way for a broader level of acceptance of the cultural diversity that characterizes the Twin Cities community.

Sponsored by The Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce (MBCC), 501c3 Non-Profit

 Supporters are: The Minnesota State Arts Board, American Family, Xcel Energy, Midwest Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC), Office for Business & Community Economic Development (U of M)