Grace Kewl-Durfey has been a Broward County resident for 42 years. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, she remembers a variety of live music venues in Broward where the floor beneath became a sea of motion, a surge and sway of people lost to the beat. As the music would build, so did the energy, and when the last chord would fade, a wave of applause and cheers seemed to crash over the stage.
“I used to love our community concerts,” says Kewl-Durfey. “We lost a lot of ground here and there are very few music venues compared to decades ago. Part of my upbringing was we had live music everywhere, and we don’t have that anymore. But now we have the chance to support and bring back our live music venues and continue to find ways to support the arts with something special.”
She says she has had a passion for the arts since she was a child, and the arts advocate often focuses on community engagement, cultural initiatives, and enhancing the visibility of arts within Broward.
“I’ve been with the Broward County Cultural Division for 21 years,” says Kewl-Durfey, who currently serves as the Broward Cultural Division’s Director of Community Engagement. “I’ve implemented arts programming and I’ve been a mentor. The power of the arts can help address our economic, educational, and other issues across the board, and we’re trying to bring awareness with something like SongFest.”
Kewl-Durfey and two-time Grammy nominated singer/songwriter and producer Elsten Torres, have combined to create SongFest. The Destination Sistrunk Cultural Center will host its second annual SongFest and the Thursday, Aug. 29 event will feature live performances by local artists.
“We got into a conversation about how the music industry is underdeveloped in Broward County,” says Kewl-Durfey. “We talked about building capacity for the music artists, and built this as a business and artistic program that can help these talents.”
SongFest Finale II is part of ongoing efforts to foster community engagement and celebrate the rich cultural diversity of the region. The one-night free concert will feature musicians who’ve spent months practicing their music skills. A variety of musicians from different genres will come together and perform original work they’ve spent months trying to perfect.
Torres was born and raised around the musical arts much the same as Kewl-Durfey. By the time he was a teenager, he was in his first band, and the Cuban-born and New York-raised musician moved to Florida in 1994.
He’s been a professional musician for more than 30 years, he says.
“SongFest also offers workshops such as songwriting courses for the artists,” says Torres. “We bring in professionals from the industry, and we have a complete program that’s free to the artists in order to help them grow as a talent.”
Since 2018, Torres and Kewl-Durfey have crossed paths. After speaking together for a few years and coming across each other at events, she had an idea to do an event. After a meeting discussing working with musicians who want to work and learn professionally about the business, Torres agreed and after meeting with each other they both decided to create SongFest.
“We’re going to have a very diverse group for this,” says Torres. “We want to showcase a little bit of everything that happens in Broward County such as two Latin artists, Alternative Rock, Hip-Hop, and we have a teacher with a Pop vibe.”
Lisa Thayer, a teacher at Hollywood Hills Elementary, first heard about SongFest because one of her fellow teachers’ husbands was in the first SongFest. The teacher and artist has been performing since she was 21 and recently produced and released an eight-song album called “Have All The Kings Gone Mad,” that’s available on Spotify and YouTube. After sending an original song to Torres and performing live for him, she made it into SongFest.
“Being with SongFest has taught us so much,” says Thayer. “Like how to deal with an entertainment lawyer, songwriting structure, copyrighting, someone from Sony came. They taught us every aspect of songwriting, how to promote our music online, and we had about seven workshops over a few months and two hours long each.”
Thayer will be performing a mix of what she describes as edgy-pop and soul blues.
“I want to have variety and for me, it’s all about the lyrics,” says Thayer. “SongFest is more than just writing songs. It’s about meeting humble people who are really there to help you and have been in the industry. I have experience getting signed then getting dropped, meeting people who didn’t even want to listen, but now, people are listening.”
SongFest Finale II will be held at Destination Sistrunk, a cultural and arts district in Fort Lauderdale, that opened in 2019. After the passing of its co-founder and community leader, Albert A. Tucker, Destination Sistrunk became a center focused on historic preservation and celebrating the arts through live musical performances, dance, and more to promote the culture of the Sistrunk Boulevard corridor.
Knarley Noso will also be performing at SongFest. Noso is a Miami-based artist of American-Bahamian descent known for his unique blend of hip-hop, rap, and alternative music. He also hopes that SongFest helps emerging artists.
“Low-income communities usually lack resources,” says Noso. “Sistrunk always keeps trying and keeps the door open to the creatives. Providing programs like this, inviting people out, and spreading the word not only helps the artists, but the overall community in Sistrunk and Broward County.”
Thayer, Noso, and Torres all appreciate that SongFest is being held at Destination Sistrunk, and all say they are looking forward to performing at the historical location. This event serves as the grand finale of a series that highlights and celebrates local talent through live performances, bringing together the community to enjoy an evening of arts and culture.
“Sistrunk has great history in the Black community and the artistic community,” says Torres. “So many great artists have come from this area and it’s something special, and we want to create another Sistrunk special.”
SongFest II for Kewl-Durfey is bittersweet as her last day with the Cultural Division is Sept. 6. Stepping out to refocus her career, she says she’ll continue to support the local arts community. Both she and Torres would like to see this event inspire and encourage other talents and they want people to walk away from the show understanding the impact music has on a community.
“When it comes to the arts, I’m passionate and pushy,” says Kewl-Durfey. “We have an incredible amount of talented people in Broward County. We can put Broward on the map and we can uniquely compare ourselves to Miami’s art scene. I don’t want the music scene and local live music venues to keep disappearing. Let’s bring them back and show people the music scene is still alive.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “SongFest Finale II”
WHERE: Destination Sistrunk Cultural Center, 1033 NW 6 St., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 29
TICKETS: Free with RSVP
INFORMATION: Call 954-357-7457 or http://destinationsistrunk.com/
