MOJA R&B Concert Canceled

Cameo, Monica and DJ Kid Capri were scheduled to perform at the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park for the event. The city’s Office of Cultural Affairs produces and directs most of the activities at the festival but the annual concert is handled by an outside promoter, who happened to drop out this year, according to the Charleston City Paper.

As a result, MOJA Planning Committee Chairman Angel Quintero requested the city to make an emergency contribution of $80,000.

However, Mayor John Tecklenburg denied the request because of the short notice and lack of ticket sales. “I was told the other day that they had only sold 10 tickets to the event,” Mayor Tecklenburg told the City Paper. “This is at The Joe, so you can sell thousands of tickets there, and apparently the cost of the concert is substantial. Admittedly, you would sell probably most of your tickets right close to the event or that day, but it’s hard to imagine they’re going to be able to sell that many.

“So you’ve got this one event out of all the MOJA events that is in jeopardy. I would respectfully say it doesn’t ruin the whole festival, but this has happened before, I understand. I believe that our city going forward needs to look at who we’re doing business with in terms of privately promoting events like this and maybe taking the responsibility ourselves rather than taking the risk of a promoter dropping out.”

The MOJA Festival took place Sept. 29-Oct. 9 and celebrates African-American and Caribbean arts.