The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign will be hosting a Juneteenth Music Festival from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Albert Whitted Park, 480 Bayshore Drive, in St. Petersburg.

The live outdoor concert will feature headliner Shawn Brown, one of the world’s top Hammond organ jazz musicians. The festival will also feature Tampa’s very own Beat Down Band, which features a signature sound that has defined the landscape of today’s R&B and soul music scene; St. Petersburg-born artist Siobhan Monique, who’s classically trained voice belts out music that she defines as “Ancestral Funk” and has fostered a movement to create change by bringing people together; and Grammy Nominated, 3x NAACP Image Award nominated and BILLBOARD charting artist Nathan Mitchell, who has become one of the most respected “musical storytellers” in the contemporary jazz industry.

The festival is one of several activities hosted in June by the Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign as part of an overall Juneteenth Literacy Festival. Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It is celebrated annually throughout the nation on June 19 and recognizes when the last remaining enslaved people in the Confederacy learned of their freedom. Through their strength and example, The Phyllis Wheatley Rise to Read Campaign has made it the organization’s mission to boldly take strides to make sure that our African youth receive the necessary literacy skills that will allow them to succeed and continue the legacy set by those before us. Funds raised during the music festival will assist with that effort.