Get our free newsletter

The very first D.C. Funk Parade will be held on Saturday, commemorating U Street’s lengthy arts history with

an all-day celebration along the U Street Corridor. And on Friday, Raise Your City will host the Funk Parade Block Party, a precursor to the weekend’s festivities that might be as funky as the parade itself.

Raise Your City worked with One Love Massive and Organizing Neighborhood Equality (ONE) D.C. to bring the party to the African-American Civil War Museum. The production will feature music from soul legend Sir Joe Quartermann, brass band Black Masala, and DJ Jahsonic, plus a screening of the trailer for Black Broadway on U. The multimedia project chronicles the prosperity of the District’s African-American community along U Street—also known as the “Black Broadway”—from the 1910s through the 1950s. The block party will also include presentations by historians and storytellers, a live art installation on the One Love bus, and food trucks.

You can purchase tickets here, and all proceeds will benefit the museum and ONE D.C. This is the type of affair you definitely won’t mind sneaking out of work early for. To generate excitement, Raise Your City has curated a 72-minute mix—-listen after the jump.

The Funk Parade Block Party will be held from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, May 2.