A Community Art Project Celebrating John Brown’s Passion for Equality
A 21st-century take on a Civil War song seeks to strengthen social safety nets by building the arts community
Culture 4 A Cause is spearheading a community arts initiative to produce a song and music video for John Brown’s Body, the song that became The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Torrington is the birthplace of John Brown, an important American abolitionist, who inspired the song, which was popular among Union soldiers.
America is in the midst of its largest civil rights movement ever. John Brown was a relentless antagonist to the institution of slavery—an institution that continues to shape our nation—and his views were formed right here in Torrington.
Racial supremacy was wrong in 1800, and it’s wrong now.
“Torrington is a microcosm of America,” says Daniel Morrison, executive producer of the project, and a member of the board of directors of Culture 4 A Cause.
“We are a diverse community of city, suburban, exurban, and rural people. We want to say loud and clear that a passion for equality is steeped in Torrington’s past, present, and future.”
“We are recording this song not as an act of protest, but as an act of community celebration,” says Morrison. “Our guy, John Brown, set out from Torrington to change the world for the better and we want to celebrate that spirit 220 years after his birth.”
The project is also meant to give a sonic boost to the growing visual arts movement in Torrington and NWCT. “There is a lot of superb talent and artistic resources in our region, and we want to shine a light on them,” adds Jacque Williams, a local recording artist, media personality, and Vice-chairman of Culture For A Cause.
Here’s another cool twist: We will raise money from the community to pay artists to make socially-important art for the community, and then we’ll use the art to raise money for the community safety nets that have decimated our cities. It’s like a circular firing squad, but everyone is throwing money. AND the money you throw is tax-deductible. Everybody wins.
The song will be accompanied by a documentary-style music video featuring footage of the artists interspersed with historic images and informational graphics celebrating John Brown’s steadfast dedication to equality. The song will be released in summer 2021 at a live event to be announced. The event will include live music.
After the events, the video will be featured on City Views TV show (hosted by Jacque Williams) and CityViews’ online platforms, where viewers will be able to donate to strengthen our community resources.
You can support this program through our GoFundMe campaign. Donations will be used to secure production costs for the audio and video production, photography, and graphic art needed to bring the project together.
