The Historic Lyric Theatre hosted the fifth iteration of the Winter Jazz, Blues and Soul series, a free event that invited the entire community to watch live music.

The event, held on Thursday, Feb. 27, featured a variety of jazz and soul music played by the Sheryl Rouse Band, a jazz band from Louisville, Kentucky.

Kendall Meiller, the rental and sales director for the Historic Lyric Theatre, said the theatre was initially created in 1948 as part of the South’s Chitlin Circuit, a network of establishments safe for African American artists to perform and participate in the audience.

“This event is a tribute to what the Lyric (Theatre) was all about when it first started,” Meiller said. 

Meiller said the idea of community is what fueled the event and invited people out of their houses during the cold months of January and February when depression and isolation run rampant.

“It’s important for our community to bring people together,” Meiller said. “Especially now during this time when we need community more than ever, we need diversity more than ever, we need to come together.”

According to Christian Adair, the executive director of the Historic Lyric Theatre, the Chitlin Circuit hosted famous performers such as Tina Turner, an African American singer who had limited performance options due to her race (1954).

Adair said past performers gave their heart and soul into each performance and that continues to be seen at the Historic Lyric Theatre today.

“They (past performers) were just trying to get a stage and get people to see their talent, and so this series, Winter Jazz, Blues and Soul Series, is in the same light,” Adair said. “We bring performers here to perform. If you bring it down to modern-day times, the Lyric is about diversity, inclusion, inspiration and love.”

According to Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton, the event honored not only the theatre’s history, but is also a part of the Mayor’s 250 Lex Commission, which celebrates Lexington’s 250th birthday, the local shops and shares the city’s diverse history.

Gorton said it was important for the community to attend the event to support not only the theatre, Black History Month and the city of Lexington, but also one another.

“I am a big supporter of activities that go on here at the Lyric Theatre. It’s a historic theatre, so here I am ready to support and enjoy it,” Gorton said. “It’s an event where people get up and mix and mingle and meet new people.”

Lead singer of the Sheryl Rouse Band, Sheryl Rouse, said she wanted the audience to feel something through her music.

“The world is in a place where we need healing, and music can do that,” Rouse said. “Music can heal anything.”

According to Rouse, the event provided a safe space for the community to come, talk and feel emotions together. Rouse said the theatre is a space where it is okay for all types of people to exist together.

Rouse said while the audience may not have seen the Lyric Theatre during the Circuit, she hopes they can still feel its message and learn to love one another through her performance.

“It’s okay for us to love one another, it’s okay to just spread love and spread that love through music,” Rouse said.