The FunkJazz Kafe is a multi-faceted arts and music festival. A “special interest” mixture of style and substance linking fashion, virtual and visual arts, food, wellness, dance, spoken word, new media, bazaar vending and interactive suites with our favorite main ingredient: Music. This one of a kind experience event is known for its authenticity, global appeal and vibrant originality. With an internationally recognised music policy that spans the spectrum of the best in soul-based music, The FunkJazz Kafe is a festival like no other, an unscripted environment of mixed-media installations, live video mixing, turntable DJs, live percussion interaction and live painting with a backdrop of innovative music, anything (creative) goes. At The FunkJazz Kafe, you’ll see a variety of people/ “tribes”. We create an experience that our audience of influencers appreciate and somehow correspond to our psychic and spiritual tendencies of self-mastery and expressionistic ingenuity.
Now in our 17th year, FJK has forged its own path. We are a key element of the Atlanta music scene. Our goal has been to introduce new artistic talents and lifestyle concepts in a creative atmosphere as well as merge wellness, music, technology, art, fashion and multimedia as an integrated lifestyle. Proclaimed as “A Legendary Carnival of Art and Music” and “Best Performance Arts Festival” by Vibe Magazine and voted “Best Multimedia Event” in 2002 by Creative Loafing, The FunkJazz Kafe creates one of the most anticipated and original interactive / cultural arts festivals in North America.
Through the branded event, FJK has acquired a database of unique consumer profiles that has allowed FJK flexibility as an impactful and resourceful lifestyle marketing company whose marketing partners have included Volvo Cars, TV One, Cingular Wireless, Starbucks Coffee, Tanqueray, HBO, Vibe Magazine/Vibe Music Fest, National Black Arts Festival and the National Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences and the Atlanta Jazz Festival with the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs to name a few. Our goal has been to introduce new artistic talents and lifestyle concepts in a creative, multi-activity atmosphere filled with music and memories.
Conceived by Jason Orr, The FunkJazz Kafe has been a catalyst in the progressing soul music renaissance. Although The FunkJazz Kafe is NOT a “concert”, we have created music magic with the “architects” of modern soul, jazz, rock, spoken word and hip hop, such as Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Akon, Public Enemy, Jamie Foxx, Outkast, India Arie, Talib Kweli, Meshell Ndegeocello, Common, Omar, Bilal, Loose Ends, Raphael Saadiq, Goodie Mob, Van Hunt, Doug E. Fresh, Dionne Farris, Caron Wheeler, MC Lyte, Vinx, Too Short, Bone Crusher, Joi, Speech, Wunmi, Cee Lo, Donnie, Sleepy Brown, George Howard and many others each leaving a taste of their past, present and future sounds with the support of our house band and interacting DJs. We mix an environment of creative artists, activists and musicians to express themselves in whatever way they want. Incorporate several other creative performers from stilt walkers, fire breathers and percussion ensembles to Capoiera Angola martial artists to make the festival a lasting memory.
Not only has The FunkJazz Kafe been a vehicle cultivating the arts scene in Atlanta, since it’s inception thirteen years ago the festival has assisted several charities by discounting festival admission for food or clothing donations. FJK has donated over 740,000 pounds of food to various charitable organizations that feed the homeless, such as, The Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hosea Williams’ Feed the Hungry and Homeless Program, Atlanta Alliance for Developmental Disabilities, National Aids Education and Services for Minorities, Focus Hope (Detroit), Food and Friends (DC) and The Atlanta Women’s and Children’s Shelter.
The FunkJazz Kafe is a gathering. For some, The FunkJazz Kafe is a “re-introduction” to some of music’s most influential pioneers and for the others, it’s an outlet to simply share good energy and creative innovations with the masses in one of most influential “experience” festivals of the last fifteen years. The FunkJazz Kafe Festival has been a place where artistic freedom of expression is celebrated. It’s a branded music platform that has something different for everyone to enjoy. Creative Loafing stated it best in their BEST OF ATLANTA issue, “The FunkJazz Kafe owes its success not just to the consistent surprise of high quality performers and artists, but to the vibe created by unapologetically blending intellectual, physical and even political expression under one banner of entertainment”.
