Pharell is hosting a block party in Norfolk, Virginia as part of a three-day conference celebrating the launch of his creative advocacy agency, Mighty Dream, reports 13 News Now.
The event will be held in the Neon District of the city and in 10 surrounding areas.
Dr. Sebrina A. Lindsay-Law, the community engagement coordinator of the Norfolk-based CROP Foundation, expressed her excitement about partnering with Pharell on the initiative.
"Oh, we're excited! Anytime you can involve students and you can involve multi-generations and have a conversation about how we can improve, that's powerful, that's life-changing," she said.
Last year, Jesse Neece, the events director for Commune Restaurant, worked with Pharrell on his "Elephant in the Room" event where he met with local city leaders to discuss what role he could play in the Hampton Roads area. She believes that the block party is the perfect follow-up event.
"We were able to get a ton of student involvement. We were able to get a lot of chefs together under the veil of Commune and the CROP Foundation," Neece said. "So, what we're doing this time around is instead of bringing everyone under our umbrella and creating this event, we're trying to highlight all of these businesses.”
According to the press release at the announcement of the organization, Mighty Dream was created “to produce creative work that solves challenges facing communities of color through social action campaigns, product development, and policy change.”
“If someone asks me what inspires me, I always say, ‘That which is missing.” It’s the clearest path to being additive to society and finding new solutions for real problems,” Pharell said in a statement. “Mighty Dream aims to create what’s missing — in creativity, in advocacy, in society.”
The conference is scheduled for November 1-3.
