Community
Honda Battle of the Bands Returns to Celebrate HBCU Culture and Marching Band Tradition
- Six Historically Black Colleges and Universities marching bands delivered dynamic performances
- Rickey Smiley and Loni Love hosted the event
- Each participating school received a $50,000 grant from Honda for music education and career development programs
MONTGOMERY, Ala. /PRNewswire/ — Thousands of fans, students and alumni converged upon Alabama State University (ASU) on Saturday, Feb. 18 to take part in the 18th Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase (HBOB), the nation’s premiere showcase for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) marching bands and dance teams. Marking its return to a live event format for the first time since 2020, HBOB also was held for the first time on an HBCU campus, featuring spectacular performances from six marching bands representing HBCUs.
This year’s HBOB theme, “Driving the Legacy,” celebrated the distinct culture and heritage of HBCUs, honoring HBCU traditions and the important role these institutions play in providing higher education and opportunities for advancement to the Black community.
ASU alumnus and legendary comedian Rickey Smiley hosted the HBOB live event, while Emmy and two-time NAACP Image Award-winning host, comedian, and Prairie View A&M University alumna Loni Love hosted the HBOB livestream.
The six HBCU marching bands that performed in the 2023 HBOB Invitational Showcase included both first-time and veteran HBOB bands:
- Alabama State University, Mighty Marching Hornets – 7th appearance
- Langston University, Marching Pride – 4th appearance
- Morgan State University, Magnificent Marching Machine – 1st appearance
- Savannah State University, Powerhouse of the South – 7th appearance
- Texas Southern University, Ocean of Soul – 3rd appearance
- Virginia State University, Trojan Explosion – 10th appearance
The Invitational Showcase provided these marching bands with a national platform to display their talent, both live and streamed online. Each of the six bands received an all-expenses-paid trip to the HBOB Invitational Showcase. Building on Honda’s longstanding support for HBCUs, each of the six participating universities also received a $50,000 grant from Honda to support their music education and career development programs. Honda also supported nonprofit organizations within the host city of Montgomery through $100,000 in local grants and $20,000 to two nonprofit organizations that partnered with Honda on a new mural installed on the ASU campus.
In addition to the marching band performances at the 2023 Invitational Showcase, HBOB also included an HBCU College Fair hosted by ASU to connect high school students with representatives from ASU, Savannah State University and Virginia State University. The college fair enabled prospective college students to meet with marching band and admissions recruiters to discuss admissions requirements, financial aid, student life and scholarship opportunities. Students who attended the college fair received free admission to the HBOB Invitational Showcase.
For more information on HBOB, visit www.hondabattleofthebands.com. Fans can also check out HBOB highlights from the Invitational Showcase on the official HBOB social media channels:
- Facebook – Facebook.com/HondaBattleoftheBands
- Instagram – @the_honda / Instagram.com/the_honda
- Twitter – @The_Honda / Twitter.com/The_Honda
Honda will continue its support of HBCUs with the upcoming Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC), America’s premiere academic competition for HBCU students. The 2023 HCASC National Championship will be held April 15-19. Visit www.hcasc.com for more details.
Honda and Historically Black Colleges and Universities
For over 30 years, Honda has supported the success and dreams of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students through initiatives including the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge and Honda Battle of the Bands. These programs provide unforgettable experiences and opportunities for HBCU students, including meeting and networking with peers from other HBCU schools. Honda has impacted the lives of more than 200,000 students and awarded over $14 million in grants in support of HBCU education programs and facilities improvements.
To advance its leading investment in HBCUs, Honda is a member of the HBCU Partnership Challenge, a Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus initiative that brings together government, industry and HBCUs to create strategic, more sustainable HBCU partnerships. Honda also has partnered with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to provide annual scholarship funding to support HBCU students pursuing an education in engineering, supply chain management and manufacturing-related fields.
About Honda Corporate Social Responsibility
For more than 60 years in the U.S., Honda has been committed to making positive contributions to the communities where its customers and associates live and work. Honda’s mission is to create products and services that improve lives while conducting business in a sustainable manner and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. Advancing its corporate social responsibility, Honda and the Honda USA Foundation support this direction through giving focused on education, the environment, mobility, traffic safety and community.
Learn more at http://csr.honda.com/.
SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Author
Last Updated on May 4, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the United States, the holiday has become a celebration of Mexican-American culture and heritage, often involving parades, parties, and traditional foods such as tacos and margaritas.
How will you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
https://stmdailynews.com/category/the-bridge/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo
Author
New hybrid event aims to give grieving audiences meaningful holiday viewing, with films from more than 25 countries and a mission centered on love, loss, and emotional truth.
A new film festival debuting in late 2026 is taking a different approach to holiday entertainment. Grief Fest™: The Grief Film Festival, created by My Grief Angels Inc., is being introduced as what organizers believe is the world’s first film festival dedicated entirely to grief, remembrance, resilience, and healing.
The hybrid festival will run in two segments: November 25–29, 2026, during Thanksgiving week, and December 24, 2026, through January 3, 2027, during Christmas and New Year’s. Top Honors films will be announced on December 31, 2026.
Organizers say the timing is intentional. Research cited in the announcement shows that grief and loneliness are major holiday stressors for many Americans, making the season especially difficult for people coping with loss. In that context, Grief Fest™ is positioning itself as an alternative to the flood of traditional feel-good holiday programming.
The festival is open to short films, features, documentaries, experimental work, AI-generated projects, and VR experiences. It is described as inclusive, non-religious, and LGBTQ+ friendly, with submissions already received from more than 25 countries. All films will be presented in English, either spoken or subtitled.
Grief Fest™ will be available both in person and virtually through Film Festival Plus, making it accessible to audiences worldwide. The launch of GriefFest.com also includes Lumen, a multilingual AI guide designed to help filmmakers and attendees navigate the festival in their preferred language.
Rather than focusing on industry prestige, organizers say the festival is centered on community and emotionally honest storytelling. For audiences who feel unseen during the holidays, Grief Fest™ is aiming to offer something rare on the seasonal screen: recognition.
Source: PR Newswire
Related Reading
- Grief Fest: Official festival site
- My Grief Angels Inc.: About the nonprofit behind the festival
- Film Festival Plus: Virtual access platform
Catch the latest in movies, TV, music, pop culture, and live events in STM Daily News’ Entertainment section.
As the United States moves toward the 250th anniversary of its independence, a new public storytelling project is asking Americans to answer a big question: what does the American Dream mean today?
McCourt Entertainment has launched America-Dreams.com at SXSW as a digital platform designed to collect video submissions from people across the country. The goal is ambitious: gather one million voices reflecting on hope, opportunity, and what Americans want the future of the country to look like.
The initiative is tied to AMERIGO, an upcoming documentary presented by South Florida PBS and distributed by American Public Television. The film, which will be available to PBS stations nationwide beginning in June as part of 2026 programming tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary, explores the past, present, and future of the American Dream through conversations with people across the United States.
According to the project team, selected user-submitted videos may become part of the broader AMERIGOstorytelling effort, turning the campaign into more than a promotional rollout. Instead, it is being framed as a living archive of public voices gathered during a milestone moment in American history.
South Florida PBS President and CEO Dolores Fernandez Alonso said the goal is to make the anniversary feel inclusive and participatory.
“To celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, we wanted to do something truly remarkable and invite all Americans to share their hope for the American Dream at America-Dreams.com,” Alonso said. “We are extremely proud of the cross-section of voices from across our nation and we want to capture these stories, experiences and perspectives so that people feel included in this historic national conversation.”
Emmy Award-winning producer David McCourt said the project builds on the documentary team’s nationwide reporting.
“As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this project asks a simple but powerful question: ‘What is your hope for the American Dream?’” McCourt said. “We want to hear directly from people across the country.”
The campaign arrives at a moment when interactive documentary projects and audience participation are becoming a larger part of public media storytelling. With AMERIGO, the combination of a PBS documentary and a nationwide video submission initiative gives the project a broader cultural footprint than a traditional film release.
Submissions are now open at America-Dreams.com. A trailer for AMERIGO is also available on Vimeo.
For entertainment audiences, the project stands out less as a conventional documentary launch and more as a large-scale invitation to participate in a national media moment ahead of America’s semiquincentennial.
Catch the latest in movies, TV, music, pop culture, and live events in STM Daily News’ Entertainment section.
Related Links
Source Link
