This Saturday brings a fun-packed community festival organized by Culxr House on North 24th Street. First annual New Culxr Festival will take over a strip of 24th Street between Patrick and Grant Streets and a block of Burdette Street. New Culxr Festival runs most of the day Saturday with games, food, street music, artisan vendors, and multiple platforms for artists. At the center of activity is Culxr House, an event space focused on local creatives. There on 2417 Burdette Street, the stage is set for a lineup of musicians listed below (music artist profiles listed at end of article).

NEW CULXR FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

11:30 am - 12:30 pm Speaker Stevie G. - “The Art of Storytelling” (inside Culxr House)
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Bike Ride (meet outside Culxr House, ride along proposed trail)
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Davies Dojo Yoga Class (outside Culxr House)
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Speaker Rachel Ray (in the garden at Culxr House)

MAIN STAGE @ CULXR HOUSE

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm DJ Funktown
4:30 pm - 6:15 pm Da Illas (duo)
6:30 pm - 7:15 pm Ria Gold
7:30 pm - 8:15 pm J. Crum

ACTIVITIES @ 24TH STREET - Starting at 2:00

Chalk on Street
Rock painting
Face painting by Y.O.M.
Big Games
Dance Competition
Wings & Pie Eating Competition

INSIDE CULXR HOUSE

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm Screenwriter Workshop
Record Sale
Clothing Line

PARKING @ 2102 N 24 ST

Additional parking available on the City of Omaha lot next to TMarie’s Homestyle Foods and Seafood on the NW corner of 24th Street and Patrick Avenue.

This area is part of a revitalization effort along North 24th Street corridor with various players such as city planners, business owners, neighborhood associations, and cultural entrepreneurs.

Da Illaz

A new hip hop organism has found in the game. Clear Soul Forces’ illadope & L.A.Z prove that distance doesn’t get in the way of work. With L.A.Z based in Detroit and illadope in Jacksonville, NC, the duo Da iLLAZ, blends their styles, churning out new flavor on each track. Da iLLAZ hail from the south-side of Colorado Springs. They attended the same high school, but serendipity didn’t occur until 2009, when they officially met on Facebook, through a mutual friend, Alisha. Without ever living in the same state L.A.Z (the MC) and illadope (the producer) have perfected the remote work ethic. Their opposite personalities keep each other in check: L.A.Z’s hyped, full force energy against illa’s elusive, experimental nature. You can find Da iLLAZ at www.daillaz.com and @daillaz on social media.

J. Crum

Here stands a man openly flawed and encumbered with life’s immeasurable expectations, but he’s also a devoted man of God striving for grace. Joshua Crum – just call him J. Crum – speed-raps his feverish words alongside echoing beats and riffs usually coupled with harder rock styles, and counters the intensity with smooth, lingering hooks. Detroit-born and Omaha-based Crum’s inspirational tracks reflect a man bound to his faith, family and fans but with a grittiness churning through time and measures.

Ria Gold

“Ria Gold, not a ‘singer’ nor ‘rapper. I'm a songwriter using melodies and emotions to express the lyrics I'm inspired to write. I say what I haven't heard yet to help those who can't put certain feelings into words.”

DJ Funktown

“As an artist my mission has always been to abstract myself, but to do so in a way that still feels tangible. Distilling life with symbolism and visual appeal. To me, the dance floor is much the same as a lone viewer in a gallery. They came to be moved. Provoked. Pushed to transcendence. I’m drawn to music that does the same. I want my sets to bring people from the mundane to something extraordinary that we both can feel equal parts of. The funk is anything you care to express. And I want us all to bring a tonne of it.”

Rachel Ray @ Culxr House Garden

What if everything that has and is happening in your life, is unfolding exactly as it should? As if each thing you experience is happening to usher you into your highest potential. If you believe this to be true, what is holding you back?

Rachel Ray is a Lincoln, Nebraska native and an absolute, 100% - joy bomb! She has combined her passion for psychiatry, mental wellness, her love for humanity, and her own experiences in life to try and answer this question. Her commitment to her well-being has inspired a transformation of the mind, body, and soul. There, she has found a new appreciation for her own self-love journey -- and with much else accomplished -- has also lost over 200 pounds! Rachel is a personal stylist, a faith-filled individual, and is academic bent on pursuing a mental wellness revolution. She shares her story in permitting herself to believe life is working for good, to inspire, empower, and permit others to do the same.

New Culxr Festival Event Lineup Announced for July 27