Our second year project utilized the power of music to build hope and community, examine structural racism and poverty in St. Louis, and lifted up the incredible local legacy of resistance to that inequity. The Solid Sound Collective was designed to strengthen, support, and connect our city’s vibrant music scene and the local social justice movement. The Action Art Collaborative recruited and guided a coalition of four St. Louis musicians, composers, and songwriters through the process of using their artistic practice to support St. Louis organizers, activists, and nonprofits dedicated to social change.

In June of 2024, we premiered the newly commissioned music by Anita Jackson, Ryan Marquez, Colin McLaughlin and Alicia Reve alongside our collaborators from MICA (Migrant and Community Action Project), St. Louis Jobs With Justice, and Percy Green II. We also hosted several pop up concerts featuring this new music (total audience, approximately 300 people).

COLLECTIVE MEMBERS: Anita Jackson, Alicia Like, Ryan Marquez, and Colin McLaughlin.

PRODUCERS: Kathryn Bentley, Delaney Piggins, Alicia Like, Michael Thahn Tran

MICA (Migrant and Community Action Project) is a community organization committed to working with low-income immigrants to overcome barriers to justice. The MICA Project utilizes legal services, organizing, advocacy, and education to promote the voice and human dignity of immigrant communities.

St. Louis Jobs With Justice is a coalition of individuals, community, labor, student & faith groups fighting for social, racial, & economic justice from picket lines to voting lines. Since 1999, MO JWJ has shown up for workers across the Missouri.

Percy Green II is a life long activist and community organizer. He has spent 60 years fighting for justice in St. Louis and beyond.