Message from the Captain of the Mothership

We are living through historically challenging times. Funk music came about in another historically challenging time, the 1970’s faced backlash and disillusionment from the idealism and free spiritedness of the 60’s. The black community in particular found that the promises of integration and the civil rights movement fell short, and their suffering continued. Funk music was the expression of these hard feelings. Funk was once defined as “partying despite slavery”. The joy the music creates battles the pain of an unjust society. The physical expression that the groove generates, it combats the fear. By doing what brings us happiness, we challenge authoritarianism directly. It relies on us being too afraid to feel good. We won’t give them our joy. We will party despite this. We will funk the fear. We will make our community stronger. Joy is our weapon. Funk is our resistance.
- Billy D Thompson, Board President