Columbus City Council Honors Dr. Mark Lomax, II with Resolution

For Immediate Release October 15, 2018

Columbus City Council Honors Dr. Mark Lomax, II with Resolution

Contact: Ben Weiss
Director of Strategic Partnerships
bweiss@400AnAfrikanEpic.org
(614) 859-0276

 “Mark Lomax is the type of artist the 21st century needs to redefine how modern society experiences music. The 400, An African Epic project is a perfect example of how one artistic idea can be relevant in different ways for different communities, expanding its impact throughout the world.”  Daniel Walshaw, Director of Artistic Planning, Columbus Symphony Orchestra

On October 22 Columbus City Council will honor Dr. Mark Lomax, II with a resolution celebrating his accomplishments as a musician, a community activist, and a leader at the Columbus Foundation in developing grant-making strategies to reduce disparities and create opportunities for at-risk youth.

Dr. Lomax, a life-long resident of Columbus, graduated from Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School and earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctor of Music Arts degrees at The Ohio State University. Recently Dr. Lomax received a coveted 2018 Wexner Center for the Arts Artist Residency Award for his growing list of achievements as a music composer and performer. He has performed on over 30 albums, most of them under his leadership. He has also recorded and performed with many of the most prominent musicians in the genres of jazz, classical, and gospel music. “I was instantly amazed by Mark just in conversation before I even heard him play,” Lane Czaplinski, performing arts director at the Wexner Center has remarked. “Mark is an absolute experimentalist…and this huge, deep project will look at the legacy of jazz from the past all the way to the future.”

In January 2019 Dr. Lomax will release his music masterpiece - 400: An Afrikan Epic - a 12-album cycle that explores Black America in pre-colonial Afrika, the Ma’afa (the 400 years between 1619 and 2019), and Afro-futurism, a vision of community strength and unity in the next 400 years. Columbus' Lincoln Theater has invited him to perform selections of the cycle to celebrate its release on January 26. Thereafter he will begin a series of engagements at universities, symphonies, and cultural institutions to engage students, teachers, and the general public in an experience that educates and entertains, as well as inspires and uplifts the human spirit through the power of music. Columbus poet and event producer Scott Woods said of Dr. Lomax: “Mark is one of our greatest artists, and one of our greatest voices. He could just play music, but he consistently steps up and says what needs to be said.”

Dr. Lomax grew up in a Columbus’ Linden neighborhood, surrounded by the temptations that many urban neighborhoods pose. But he had the will, a creative spirit, exceptional talent, and the support of the community and schools to rise above the temptations and pursue his special gifts to the fullest. His journey has just begun. With his upcoming engagements in 2019, soon Dr. Mark Lomax will be a name recognized around the globe.
 
For more information:
400: An Afrikan Epic [YouTube, video 2 min 37 sec]

400 Recording Session [YouTube, 3 min 46 sec video excerpt]

Columbus Monthly article about the 400 [web page]

Columbus Alive article [web page]