World-Renowned Black Musical Artists In Final Rehearsals for SCAD BAM! February 2025 Celebration

By Carol Badaracco Padgett

Tickets are on sale now for BAM!, Black Artists in Music, a Black History Month celebration curated and produced by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), on Feb. 27, 2025, at 7 p.m. at SCADshow in Midtown Atlanta.

Since 2020, the annual BAM! concert series highlights Black artists’ culture-defining, world-influencing musical hits in all genres – R&B, soul, blues, gospel, and jazz, as well as dance and spoken word.

According to SCAD’s artistic director of executive ensembles, Tony Award-winner Mike Evariste, both a Broadway performer (Les Misérables, South Pacific, and others) and co-producer (Disgrace), this year’s BAM! celebration includes an all-new element in which Black culture and creativity have left an indelible mark: cinema.

“From day one of creating BAM!, I’ve always wanted to add the element of film, and it took four years to get there,” he notes.

Evariste, who writes the script for each year’s BAM! concert, adds, “The world of film is vast and covers so many genres of music. It narrows the focus, while also allowing for a multitude of options when it comes to artists and words and lyrics and moods and themes within themes.”

Evariste’s 2025 BAM! vision is brought to life through the performances of world-class Black musical artists who are joined by SCAD’s elite vocal ensemble, the Bee Sharps. Grammy Award-nominee and Broadway star Avery Wilson, known for his work in The Wiz and The Voice, is among the lineup of professional artists, which includes 2022 SCAD alum and the university’s music coordinator, Candice Glover. Other world-class performers include SCAD alums Kiandra “Kiki” Richardson (Kingdom Business and Empire), singer and performer Terrence Williams Jr., and SCAD acting professor Isaiah Johnson (Hamilton, The Color Purple). In line with this year’s film theme, television and film star Anika Noni Rose, who is also a Tony Award winning actress, will join the BAM! cast at SCADshow.

As music director of the show, Glover says SCAD’s Bee Sharp student performers hold their own alongside the professional cast.

“Our students are young and vibrant, and so creative, as well. I love the opportunity to collaborate with them and allow them to flex that creative muscle,” Glover says. 

Glover adds, “SCAD is such a creative place, it makes you feel like you can do anything. I just want to add to that vibe and let students know, ‘You can do this.’ BAM! gives them the opportunity to work with artists who have been successful in the industry and can give them the advice they need to sustain a long career.”

Another fresh element of this year’s BAM! celebration is one that grew out of the film theme, Evariste says. “I’m excited to amplify this year’s production experience with the addition of 16 x 9-foot screens on platforms, streaming original content that enhances what is happening onstage. It will be a beautiful blend of all the artforms.”

Evariste adds, “My goal is to showcase Black artists and music and their voices, and to showcase music as having been in our DNA since the beginning of time. A lot of those influences we have today and in the future are from Black voices, from Black leaders, from Black culture.”

Tickets for the Feb. 27 BAM! celebration at SCADshow in Atlanta can be purchased here.