2024 Keynote Speaker: Jecorey Arthur

Jecorey Arthur

Jecorey Arthur is a Metro Councilman for Louisville, a Professor at Simmons College of Kentucky, and a Musician specializing in Hip Hop and Classical music. As a teacher, Arthur has served students of all ages around the world in schools, libraries, community centers, detention centers, and beyond, including a tour to Boys and Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana, a cultural exchange with De Montfort University in England, and an artistin-residency at New York City's 92nd Street Y.

As a musician, Arthur has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Big Ears Festival, Forecastle Festival, and Switzerland's Jungfrau Erzählfestival; performed as a soloist with the Stereo Hideout Brooklyn Orchestra and the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, Indianapolis, Nashville, Columbus, Dayton, Florida, Cincinnati, and Oregon Symphony Orchestras; performed as the first hip hop artist with the Louisville Orchestra including world premieres of folk opera The Way Forth and rap opera The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, where he starred as his hometown hero. Arthur has also composed original music for theatre, film, television, radio, podcast, and studio albums.

As an activist, Arthur has organized artists to address social issues, produced events to create local jobs, and worked with the American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) Foundation—writing public policy, organizing political campaigns, and training organizers across America. In 2019, he became a BMe Genius Fellow, using his award to help open the Parkland Plaza, an outdoor green space, community venue, and natural playground in his childhood neighborhood. In 2020, Arthur's community organizing inspired him to run for city council, where he won and made history as the city's youngest councilmember. Since joining Louisville Metro Council, Arthur has sponsored and passed over 130 pieces of legislation to address homelessness, poverty, discrimination, violence, and more. In addition to being on city council, Arthur is currently a music and sociology professor at the Historically Black College and University—Simmons College of Kentucky, an artist roster member of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a percussion instructor at the Louisville Academy of Music, and an endorsed artist with Salyers Percussion.