A Wichita choir will perform spirituals in Paris next month thanks to bit of serendipity.
The group is ARISE, which stands for African Americans Renewing Interest in Spirituals Ensemble. Last year, four members of ARISE accompanied a group of middle school students from Gordon Parks Academy to the French capital as part of an arts program. While there, they happened to sing for a group that included staff of the American Embassy.
“The embassy representative said, ‘If the four of you sound that good, I want to hear the whole group,’” recalled Sheila Kinnard, who was part of the quartet.
Courtesy photo
ARISE members Prisca Barnes, Sheila Kinnard, Sharon Cranford and LaTonia Kennedy before a performance.
Nineteen ARISE members are expected to take part in February’s trip, which coincides with Black History Month. They’ve received invitations to perform at the Concord Theatre, one of Paris’ most renowned venues, as well as during the Villes des Musqiues du Monde, or World Music Festival. It’s the 28th year that the month-long festival has been held in and around Paris.
ARISE was formed in 1989 by Josephine “Jo” Brown, Kinnard’s mother and the first black woman elected to the Wichita USD 259 Board of Education. Brown has said she was concerned that knowledge of spirituals was slipping away. Spirituals are usually described as a genre of music melding Christianity and the African American experience of slavery.
“Wade in the Water,” “Hold On” and “Rockin’ Jerusalem” are some of the best-known ones in the ARISE repertoire.
“The goal is to educate through song, using Negro spirituals and keeping those spirituals alive that helped the people during that time — really to educate how they survived through those songs,” said Angela Smith, a digital media manager who helps with ARISE’s publicity.
Kinnard said her mother is “still kicking. She’s 95 years old, so she’s not going to Paris with us, but she follows us very closely to make sure we’re sticking to the tenets on which we were founded.”
Although mostly comprised of retirees, the group is open to all ages and includes white as well as black members. Kinnard said the group even thought of modifying its name but “the people that are not of color love being in ARISE. It really speaks to who we are and what we sing about — the message and the music.”
ARISE has performed for many schools, churches, civic groups and other organizations through the years. In November, they were part of an event in Topeka featuring a descendant of abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. And in 2023, they travelled to Washington, D.C., for a performance, singing “One Nation, One Dream,” which was written by member Cherrie Dennis Baldon.
In addition to Baldon and Kinnard, choir members going to Paris include Sharon Hill Cranford, Cary Hesse, Karleah Murry, Rachel Norwood, Prisca Barnes, Kiesha Cook, Diane Hoheisel, Shirley Murry, Claire Overstake, Jesse Barnes, Brock Booker, Cliff Loesch, Andy Bias, Gerald Norwood, Paul Oberg, Grant Overstake and Eddie Peeples.
The Paris trip will be the group’s first abroad, capping a busy couple of weeks. On Monday, Jan. 20, ARISE hosts and will perform at the 9th annual Martin Luther King Heroes and Sheroes Scholarship Awards Breakfast in the Rhatigan Center at Wichita State University. The breakfast “allows us to recognize local champions who carry forward Dr. King’s mission,” Smith said. Tickets cost $30 and are available by calling (316) 258-2749.
ARISE members will have time for a little sight-seeing in Paris, but mostly, ARISE President Gerald Norwood said, “It’s an opportunity to bring harmony to the world.”
