The Rise and Remember festival creates space for people to engage, learn, and grow in community with joy. This event features local vendors, black-owned food trucks and restaurants, and a free concert to bring together local and national talent. Sounds of Blackness, Common, Maria Isa, the MN Orchestra, the MN Chorale, and 29:11 International Exchange have all graced our stage.

By sponsoring the festival, you will provide reprieve for families impacted by injustice, support local black-owned businesses, and give people access to a pathway to pursue racial justice through art and the practice of collective remembrance.

The George Floyd Global Memorial will host its 1st annual conference and 2nd annual gala during Rise and Remember 2023. The conference is a time to gather people together and consider the challenges and opportunities to pursue racial justice in various industries. The vision is for this conference to serve as an annual temperature check of our nation since the 2020 uprising in our mass commitments to racial equity in wake of the lynching of George Floyd. The conference will end with the GFGM Gala. The gala will be a powerful, fun-filled, uplifting experience full of culture and opportunities to partner with GFGM. 

Since the 2020 Uprising, the George Floyd Global Memorial has conserved and preserved over 5,000 offerings laid at the memorial to George Floyd. This cultural heritage preservation work is not only important to tell the story for generations to come but to bring racial equity to the industry. There is an estimate of 4.4% of archivists across the nation identifies as Black. Furthermore, there are less than 20 Black art conservators nationwide. The George Floyd Global Memorial seeks to use our unique position to create change. 

In addition to the memorable experience we will exhibit through the offerings, we seek to provide: 1) a Guided pilgrimage journey through George Floyd Square that will employ and empower local community members to tell their own stories with dignity. 2) Internships for black youth that will expose them to the cultural heritage preservation industry through a story they helped create. 3) A center for black art conservation that will specialize in protest art and provide fellowships for budding black art conservators. 4) The annual experience of Rise and Remember. 5)  Traveling exhibits to allow the stories to go to people who cannot come to Minnesota. Because this is the memorial that the people built, we are committed to our exhibits being no-cost to the public.

Candlelight vigils are healing. On May 25, 2023, the George Floyd Global Memorial will host its annual candlelight vigil to remember George Floyd on the day he took his last breath. We create candlelight vigils as sacred moments of remembrance that help people center themselves, reflect, and find solace in community. The act of lighting a candle is an act of solidarity. 

Your sponsorship will allow people to engage in a healing experience that centers Black voices and the family of George Floyd. Funding will go toward the programming and the purchase of over 500 LED candles to serve as tributes to victims from Impacted Families and provide an honorarium for George Floyd Square memorial caretakers planning the experience.

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Families impacted by police violence (Impacted Families) matter. Their loss is great, and many are still fighting for justice. For this reason, the George Floyd Global Memorial centers Impacted Families as our VIP guests. The families are extremely grateful for the people who have walked with and fought alongside them. 

Your sponsorship will

• Cover costs for community information tables for Impacted Families.

• Provide a VIP experience for Impacted Families.

• Sponsor gala tickets for Impacted Families.

• Support travel expenses for families across the nation who desire to attend but have economic hardship.

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