Event planned to commemorate 50th anniversary of MLK speech

An extensive group of community leaders and organizations will come together at Detroit's Gem Theatre on Tuesday, Jan. 22, for a major concert and award ceremony to mark the 50th Anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The event, organized by the Spilling the Honey Project, will begin at 6:30 pm. Spilling the Honey is a philanthropic initiative of Building Relationships Inc. founded in 2012 to advance public awareness of the Holocaust and to promote the prevention of genocide. The celebration will feature a speech by Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a scholar-in-residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute who collaborated with Rev. King on many of his speeches, including the "I Have A Dream" speech. Jones will receive the Architect of Peace award at the event in honor of his lifelong commitment to social change and reconciliation. The celebration also will feature the presentation of the first Detroit Innovation & Renewal Award to three regional leaders who have worked to find common ground among different ethnic, racial and religious groups in metropolitan Detroit. The award will be presented to Arthur Horwitz, president of Renaissance Media and publisher of the Detroit Jewish News; Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and co-publisher of the Chaldean News; and Bankole Thompson, senior editor of the Michigan Chronicle. In addition, UAW vice president General Holiefield will receive the 2013 Citizen for Change award. Other speakers will include Charles Asher Small, director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy and Koret Distinguished Scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution; and entrepreneur and author Robert Levin, CEO and founder of Transclick Inc., who has taught at Columbia University and serves as advisor to the National Geographic Society and as a contributing member of the World Economic Forum. The concert and awards presentation will be headlined by Grammy Award-winner Miri Ben-Ari, a classically trained violinist who has created her own pioneering sound and recorded with a wide variety of artists including Kanye West, Jay Z, Wyclef Jean, Alicia Keys, Wynton Marsalis and others. Broadway actress/singer Simone will perform during the award ceremony. She is the daughter the legendary Nina Simone. Other performers who will take part in the concert include; KidzBop lead singer Elijah J, who performed in Disney's Lion King; Detroit pop/rock group See Jane Rock; and poet/actor/playwright activist Jessica Care Moore. Dennis Archer Jr. is chair of the event. Daniel and Amie Stern are the co-chairs. Area community partners include Defeat the Label, a Michigan-based anti-bullying campaign; the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus; the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights; and the NAACP Detroit Branch. Sponsors include the Cummings Foundation, the DTE Energy Foundation, Homedics Inc., Greektown Casino and Hotel, International Development Company, Robert Dipilla D.D.S, Mr. and Mrs. S. Dennis Rogers, the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Anti Defamation League, Pegasus entertainment, and Charles M. Boyd M.D., F.A.C.S. Proceeds from the inaugural Voices of the Dream Concert and Awards Ceremony will be donated to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University and Defeat the Label. VIP tickets, which include a pre-reception, can be purchased online at http://2013voicesofthedream.eventbrite.com Published: Mon, Jan 14, 2013