
Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award (Musician): Dr. Michael White
Renowned and multiple-award-winning clarinetist, composer and educator Dr. Michael White came to learn that just performing New Orleans jazz was not enough. Part of the deal was carrying on the tradition for future generations. “It came as a result of circumstances,” White explains. “I was playing with a lot of older musicians [born between the late 1890s and 1910] and at the time many of them got sick and started dying out so I ended up having a lot of hospital visits. The t

Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award (Culture Bearer): Herreast Harrison
“What better way to give to young children than to empower them with knowledge and just to instill in them how important it is to know things—to be curious and to want to excel?” she [Herreast Harrison] asks while living the answer. Herreast Harrison’s life story sings of destiny. A soft-spoken yet sharp-witted and culturally astute and involved woman, Harrison, 81, took her cues from her mother, Mattie Johnson, in her love of books and artistic creation. “I had a quest for k