Black Violin - BV20: Then & Now

This performance is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida Division of Arts & Culture.

For nearly two decades, Black Violin has been merging string arrangements with modern hip-hop beats and vocals and building bridges in communities along the way. Now 2x Grammy Award nominees, Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste first met in orchestra class at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, becoming classically trained on the violin and viola through their high school and college careers.

Black Violin plays roughly 200 shows a year; many of which are performances for young, low-income students in urban communities. In the last year alone, the group has played for over 100,000 students with the goal of challenging stereotypes and preconceived notions of what a “classical musician” looks and sounds like. In 2019, the group launched the Black Violin Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering youth by providing access to quality music programs in their community. BVF believes that music and access to music programs should not be determined by race, gender, or socio-economic status.

NPR states “their music will keep classical music alive for the next generation.”

This program is part of the Broward Center's Arts for Action: Black Voices initiative which aims to use the arts as a tool or catalyst to heighten awareness, deepen knowledge, and mobilize action on social justice issues.

The Arts for Action: Black Voices initiative is generously presented by Baptist Health and JM Family Enterprises, Inc., with support from TD Charitable Foundation, which focuses on how the arts and artists can be a force for change in addressing critical issues of social justice and racial equity.