Title
To recognize Dr. Mark Lomax, II for receiving the 2018-19 Wexner Center Artist Residency Award
Body
WHEREAS, Dr. Mark Lomax, II grew up in Columbus’s Linden neighborhood where he graduated from Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School in 1997, he continued his education at The Ohio State University where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in classical composition and theory in 2013; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Lomax began performing music professionally at age 12 and has received critical acclaim as a composer, recording artist, and drummer who has recorded more than 30 albums with other prominent musicians in the genres of jazz, classical, and gospel music; and
WHEREAS, as an educator and activist, Dr. Lomax specializes in the socio-political and spiritual aspects of African-American art, music, race, and the use of the arts to build community; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of his accomplishments and ongoing contributions to music and the arts, Dr. Lomax received the 2018-19 Wexner Center Artist Residency Award; and
WHEREAS, the Artist Residency Award will support completion of Dr. Lomax’s work “400: An Afrikan Epic,” an ambitious 12-album project focusing on the story of Black America over the 400 years between the start of the transatlantic slave trade to today, while also exploring beyond the present with an Afro-futurist vision of community strength, union, and healing over the next 400 years; and
WHEREAS, the release of the albums on January 23, 2019, will be celebrated by a live performance of selections from the work at Columbus’s Lincoln Theatre on January 26, 2019; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS: That this Council does hereby recognize Dr. Mark Lomax, II for receiving the 2018-19 Wexner Center Artist Residency Award.