Harlem Festival of Culture partners with AMC Networks

AMC Networks will present HFC's screenings and live events, leading up to a 2023 outdoor festival that will pay homage to the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.

Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC) and AMC networks have announced a new multi-year partnership. AMC is the presenting sponsor for the screening of all HFC events in the festival’s first year.

HFC is a contemporary version of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, immortalized in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Academy Award-winning documentary, “Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not be Televised).” It was launched this past April as a means to recapture the heart of Harlem that was present in the original festival.

HFC co-founders Musa Jackson, Nikoa Evans and Yvonne McNair are preparing a series of expanded live entertainment event experiences and screenings.

Cinespia Special Screening Of Fox Searchlight And Hulu's "Summer Of Soul" With Questlove
Dancers are featured during Questlove’s performance at a “Summer Of Soul” screening in July 2021. The reimagined Harlem Festival of Culture hopes to recapture the spirit of the Harlem Cultural Festival on display in Questlove’s Oscar-winning documentary. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

AMC Networks will also support HFC via programming, talent and live-event integration. All events and screenings will lead up to HFC’s multi-day outdoor music festival in summer 2023. The celebration will pay homage to the 1969 festival.

“We are so excited to partner with AMC Networks! Not only will this partnership ensure that we are able to realize a full experience leading up to and for the festival, but it will also help set the standard for our partnerships moving forward,” said HFC Co-Founder and Technical & Talent Producer Yvonne McNair in a statement. “AMC Networks partnering with us on the ground level like this shows a deep  understanding of the significance of this Festival and that they really see the value of what we are doing.”

In addition to relaunching the festival, HFC is also reviving Mart 125 Marketplace, a historical Harlem economic hub and small, Black-owned business incubator that was located on Harlem’s 125th Street. The new iteration of Mart 125 will celebrate the impact the original Marketplace had on Harlem’s community. AMC Networks will also lend support to Mark 125.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Harlem Festival of Culture and supporting this yearlong event in a truly meaningful way,” said Kim Kelleher, chief commercial officer for AMC Networks in a statement. “We are so excited to leverage our portfolio and be a part of this incredible cultural moment, and to give advertising partners the opportunity to access this incredibly compelling slate of activities as well.”

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