Evening Receptions
On Monday & Tuesday evenings there are opportunities for groups to host gatherings. If you'd like to have a room reserved and/or have your gathering listed in the conference notebook, please contact us at acsd2010@messiah.edu before March 31, 2010.
Will Gray is an independent Hip-Hop/Americana artist currently residing in Los Angeles, California. Gray has shared the stage with artists such as Erykah Badu, Jurassic 5, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Crash Test Dummies, Whild Peach (Outkast's live band), Los Lonely Boys, Jars of Clay, Jimmy Buffett, and Ruben Studdard. Will's performance, songwriting, and production skills have been recognized and celebrated by some of the music industry's and corporate world's biggest leaders and innovators (Motorola, PlayStation, Ford, Billboard, MTV, CBS, Warner Brother Records). Currently, Will is working on a follow-up to his debut EP, Introducing Will Gray. The new album, "Honeysuckle Wine", features production by acclaimed Grammy Award-winning producer, T Bone Burnett. He is also directing and producing the feature length documentary film, Broke*, that gives a candid look into the current state of the modern music industry.
Reva Williams, principle songwriter and leader of the band, Gretel, has been recognized as one of Boston's top artists multiple times since their inception in 2005. In 2007, Williams received a Boston Music Award nomination for Best Local Female Vocalist. That same year Gretel was selected as a finalist in the Starbucks Music Makers competition. The band's offbeat instrumentation and three-part harmony have also been a favorite at Cambridge's well-known music venue, Toad, where they have accepted four, month-long residencies. She garnered substantial praise while performing, and providing a guest lecture at the last annual Trinity Arts Conference in Dallas, TX, which is a gathering of artists across all mediums, engaging in the role and responsibility, challenges and hopes of artists in the 21st century. This appearance led to Andy Whitman of Paste Magazine saying, "Reva Williams is one of my favorite songwriters, period." Most recently, Reva, and her band Gretel have released their third studio album, The Dregs.