Written by Life Is Beautiful Staff.

Las Vegas – Life is Beautiful, in partnership with Chance The Rapper’s SocialWorks charity and Soul Sessions, a Las Vegas all-ages community open mic, announce the very first SocialWorks OpenMike event to occur outside of Chicago, on the eve of Life is Beautiful. The event is named after the late “Brother Mike” Hawkins, a very special mentor in the SocialWorks community, and showcases randomly selected students to present a three-minute piece of their choice. Each event closes with special guests who perform, teach, and inspire.

Open only to High School students, the Las Vegas event hopes to attract, inspire, and empower youth from across Southern Nevada to express themselves freely and pursue their passions through creative expression. Scheduled to take place at the Performing Arts Center at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts on Thursday, Sept. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m., Life is Beautiful is proud to be able to announce that the Las Vegas edition of OpenMike will mark the event’s first-ever performance outside of Chicago.

“This is one of the most exciting partnerships we have for this year’s Life is Beautiful Festival,” said Justin Weniger, CEO of Life is Beautiful. “The festival’s art program is a core pillar in our efforts to create a community that is not only safer but more connected and empowered. Today’s youth is the future of this city and we hope through the festival and our partnership with SocialWorks that we will be able to inspire kids to embrace the arts.”

OpenMike offers high school students from across the Las Vegas Valley the freedom to share, express, and network with like-minded individuals during an evening dedicated to empowering the youth through the celebration of the arts. The event will showcase randomly selected students to present a three-minute artist performance of their choice including but not limited to poetry, singing, dance, and more. The workshop is free and open to high school students with a valid student I.D. High school students interested in registering for the event must sign up via OpenMikeIsBeautiful.eventbrite.com.

With a mission to inspire and empower youth through arts and culture and to provide a direct contribution to local communities, SocialWorks’ OpenMike event has been known to partner with creative professionals. The special guest, which is always a surprise, will perform and share their journey to becoming a creative professional, along with words of advice and encouraging messages to those in attendance.

SocialWorks aims to empower youth through arts, education, and civic engagement while fostering leadership, accessibility, and positivity within Chicago. Their initiatives were created to advocate for youth and the fulfillment of their success in all its forms.

For more information about SocialWorks OpenMike event in Las Vegas on Thursday, Sept. 19, please contact LIB@kirvindoak.com or ann@lifeisbeautiful.com.

About SocialWorks

SocialWorks, founded by Grammy-award-winning musician and humanitarian Chance the Rapper, aims to empower the youth through the arts, education, and civic engagement. Since 2016, SocialWorks has created 5 initiatives that present youth the opportunity to learn and act on their passions. SocialWorks’ programming focuses on education, mental wellness, homelessness, and performing and literary arts – directly affecting thousands of youth each year. Through their initiatives, OpenMike, Warmest Winter, Kids of the Kingdom, The New Chance: Arts & Literature Fund, and My State of Mind, SocialWorks hopes to inspire creativity, build dreams, and advocate for youth success in all its forms.

About Life is Beautiful

Life Is Beautiful was born in 2013 as part of the major transformation of Downtown Las Vegas as a cultural hub and has since contributed over $350M of economic impact and cultural capital to the area. During the three-day festival, premier musical acts, experiential artists, comedians, thinkers and culinary talent flow into the urban streets of DTLV, in addition to the festival’s 175,000 attendees. What started as an event has become something more: a symbol of connection, joy and creativity. Life Is Beautiful continues to be driven by its core mission to create a holistic experience which aids in positive community transformation and individual empowerment by collectivizing and inspiring through shared experiences driven by art and culture.

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