Nina Simone Festival Announces Jonathan Green Poster

Anticipation builds about the Nina Simone World Music Festival in Tryon, NC. The music festival in the name of Nina Simone includes local, regional and (inter)national talents performing a range of music genres on multiple stages in the North Carolina Blue Ridge birthplace of Simone.

Nina Simone Project (NSP) founder and director Dr. Crys Armbrust released information today detailing the poster for the inaugural festival celebration of the internationally-famed, North Carolina-born singer and activist. The over-sized poster, depicting a powerful image of Simone, features artist Jonathan Green’s painting NINA (2009). A limited number of the poster’s printing run will be signed by the artist.

Green, highly acclaimed as one of the most important painters of the southern experience, describes his painting thusly: “I approached the creation of “Nina” as a privilege to express my interpretation of the power, force, passion, and vulnerability of a gifted genius of music and performance.” That interpretation, Armbrust asserts, captures, in the words of Green, “the incredible legacy Dr. Nina Simone gave to our culture and heritage.”

“The Nina Simone Project,” Armbrust continued, “expresses its deep appreciation to Mr. Green for his generous sharing of talent and vision to support the NSP’s mission and goals.”