Today, the NASCAR Chicago Street Race announced that it will feature Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children‘s Choir) singing the national anthem for Sunday‘s Grant Park 220 at the inaugural Chicago Street Race. Uniting Voices Chicago will include more than 30 local performers as part of the national anthem prior to the start of the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race, which will be nationally broadcast on NBC on Sunday, July 2 at 4:30 p.m. CT.
“Since day one, this race has been about giving a platform to the great city of Chicago on a global scale,” said Julie Giese, Chicago Street Race President. “Welcoming Uniting Voices Chicago represents an opportunity to showcase these talented young singers on an international stage, so we look forward to their performance of the National Anthem prior to the Grant Park 220.”
Founded in 1956 and inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Uniting Voices Chicago is rooted in the belief that music is the most powerful vehicle for fostering mutual understanding and respect between young people of all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, gender identities and sexual orientations.
“Uniting Voices Chicago helps our singers become cultural diplomats and world citizens in our global society, and this partnership with NASCAR will give our talented singers an opportunity to do that on a truly international scale,” said Josephine Lee, Uniting Voices President and Artistic Director. “We are proud to partner with a group like NASCAR who is so committed to this city and its young people.”
Since its founding, Uniting Voices has grown from a single choir into an internationally renowned network of in-school and after-school programs that serves thousands of students from every zip code of the city of Chicago each year. Uniting Voices Chicago offers a performance-based learning experience that includes innovative creative partnerships and artistic endeavors—from regular appearances at Lyric Opera and Ravinia Festival to features on high caliber recording projects such as Chance the Rapper‘s Coloring Book and The Big Day.
For more information on Uniting Voices Chicago, visit unitingvoiceschicago.org.
— NASCAR —