Lilli Lewis at Folk Alliance International
b'As the story goes, Lilli Lewis should never have been. Before she was born, Lewis\\u2019 mother was told her baby probably wouldn\\u2019t survive due to lung trouble, so the fact that Lewis now makes a living singing with those same lungs is a gift she never takes for granted. Lewis uses her voice to bring what she calls sacred songs into profane spaces, and though she\\u2019s abandoned trying to define her sound, she hopes her audiences leave shows knowing two things: that they are brilliant as they are, and that they have the ability to use that brilliance to make a better world. Trained as an opera singer and classical pianist, Georgia native Lewis has been a composer, producer and performer for over two decades. After carving out space as an African American queer woman of size, Lewis\\u2019 career has culminated in her album Americana being a top pick everywhere from NPR\\u2019s All Songs Considered to Rolling Stone. Committing to Conversation is a grassroots engagement initiative envisioned and designed by Lilli Lewis, with the wholehearted support of Folk Alliance International\\u2019s staff and board. The aim of this initiative is to create and hold space for small-scale facilitated conversations about race, cultural equity, and social justice between willing participants invested in the desire to hear and understand each other. The program has a long-term goal of normalizing conversations about systemic racism within our folk music community, fostering a culture of communication across a spectrum of experience, and engaging members in the work of active allyship. Folk Alliance International (FAI) is an international arts nonprofit and NEA-designated National Arts Service Organization based in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Founded in 1989, as a community of passionate and driven artists, managers, agents, DJs, festivals, record labels, fans, and more. FAI exists to keep the tradition of folk music thriving through preservation, presentation, and promotion.'