Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 August 1994 — Page 9

PEOPLE & T R E N D S • B

SECTION

Arts &ENTERTAINMEHT

Saturday. August 6,1994

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MCAAP Showcased intelligent Slack women

By SHONDA McCLAIN Staff Writer Beautiful, intelligent, talented. Black women tdok center stage recently during the eighth annual Miss African-American Collegiate Pageant held at Walt Disney World MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla. MCAAP was conceived in 1984 by a group of concerned citizens in Miami, Fla., to create and promote a national spokesperson for the Afri-can-American college system. The winner would serve as an ambassador of goodwill to highlight the strength of the AfricanAmerican college system and to demonstrate, through touring and speaking around the country, the caliber of education avail- * able at these institutions. Now in its eighth year, the MCAAP is a for-runner in the celebration of Black women and has garnered big name sponsors such as McDonald’s, Polaroid, Pro-line and Mabelline’s Shades of You.

James E. Lyons Sr., president of Jackson State University, one of the colleges represented in the pageant, said the pageant is important because its emphasis is not on the physical but on the institutions and inner beauty. “The Black colleges are the focus,” said Lyons. “It gives queens the opportunity to meet with their counterparts from across the country...It’s not the typical swimsuit type of competition,” he continued. “You have more than just a body.” Hosted by actress Ella Joyce of “Roc” and renowned actor Robert Guillaume “Benson,” excitement mingled with the heady smell of anticipation as the 38 Historically Black College Queens representing the epitome of finer womanhood dazzled the audience and judges with their talent, eveningwear, poise and intellect. During the talent portion of the pageant, spectators were awed by Rukeyser Shylett Thompson’s (Alcorn State) moving monologue “Sadie” about the 1963 church bombing in Selma, Ala. They were equally mesmerized by Maletha Dixon’s (Jackson State University) See MCAAP, Page B2

HMN founder

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Frank Mercado-Valdes, founder and president of the with Warner Bros, to deliver a African-Heritage Movie Net- made-for- television special on work, founder and president of the life of legendary writer Alex

the Miss Collegiate African- Haley this year.

American Pageant and the ere- Mercado-Valdes is the handsator of S.T.O.M.P!, has made on executive that created the his mark in television by being MCAAPwhenhewasa22-year-an innovator. ok) college undergraduate stuIn 1993, Mercado-Valdes dent. Just six years later, he belaunched the African-Heritage came the youngest AfricanMovie Network, a pioneering Ankrican executive producer in concept for broadcasting, and the history of television, when marketing films featuring Afri- he produced the Pageant as a can-American stars, producers nationally-televised special. The and directors. The company’s was broadcast in over 70 mar-

H Movie of the Month” series is kets.

the only movie package ever Only two years later Mercadooffered in syndication that fo- Valdes created S.T.O.M.P1, the cuses exclusively on the work of first ever national step show com-African-Americans in the movie petition between the eight Afri-

can-American fraternities and sororities. S.T.O.M.P! has become one of the most successful shows in syndicated Disney MGM Studios, Oriando, FI., as part of a multi-year deal Mercado-Valdes struck with the Walt Disney World Company.

Mercado-Valdes expects his

three companies will earn revenues in excess of $5 million this year. The Pageant and S.T.O.M.P! were both sold out six months prior to taping, while the AHN’s “Movie of the Month” series is rapidly becoming a favorite of major advertising agendas and corporations targeting African-American con-

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Eugene D. Jackson As founder, chairman and chief executive officer of World African Network, Eugene D. Jackson is responsible for the daily operation and administration of the 24-hour pay cable network. Jackson retains controlling interest in the World African Network equity partnership formed with his wife, former NBC network programming executive Phyllis Tucker Vinson Jackson. Also joining the team will be New York media mogul Percy Sutton, Motown Records Inc., Chairman Clarence Avant and Jackson’s former partner in unity Broadcasting Network, Sydney Small. Prior to the formation of the cable network. World African Network served as the program production division of Unity Broadcasting Network, of which Jackson is chairman and president. Jackson began his entrepreneurial career in 1971 by raising $1

Music collector’s convention to buy, sell old records The 98th of a series of The Indianapolis Music Collectors’ Conventions will be held Sunday, August 7 at the Quality Inn East, 3S25 N. Shadeland Ave. The convention, which is a music show and sale, will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thousands of recycled, hard-to-find, and out-of-print phonograph records, CD’s, tapes and other music related items will be displayed and offered for sale by dealers from Indiana and other Midwestern states. The materials will represent a wide variety of tastes in music. The public is encouraged to bring records, CD’s, or other related items they wish to sell. The next Music Collectors’ Convention will be Aug. 14 in Dayton, OH. For more information, call 882-3378.

World African Network: The window to Blacks’ world million to launch Unity Broadcasting’s National Black Network (NBN), the first hourly news service distributed via satellite to more than 125 AfricanAmerican oriented radio stations. Unity Broadcasting Network, NBN’s parent company, grew to acquire five radio stations in New York, St. Louis and Philadelphia. By 1980, Jackson divested Unity of most of the radio stations to invest in cable television systems. In February, 1994, Unity sold WDAS-AM and FM, the leading African-American radio stations in Philadelphia, for $26 million to Beasley Broadcasting, the largest reported sale of an African-Ameri-can owned broadcasting property. Jackson is also vice chairman and the largest single shareholder in Queens Inner Unity Cable Systems, a joint-venture with Unity Broadcasting Network, Inner City See JACKSON, Page B2

Summer Arts for Youth Program Neighborhood young people at Martin University, 2171 Avondale Place, create masks as part of the Summer Arts For Youth Program sponsored by Young Audiences of Indiana and the Arts Council of Indianapolis. The program provides hands-on arts experiences for hundreds of inner-city youths.

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The Hip Hop Comedy Shop return* to the Welter Theatre Aug. 7, with •ctor/comedlan ChriaRock, •tar of Saturday Night Live and In Living Color. For tlckete, call 239-S151.

The contemporary verelonofthe comedy “The Little Rascale,” featuring Kevin Jamal Wood* as Stymie, above, and Roes Elliot Bagley as Buckwheat opens nationwide Aug. 8.

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Frankie Beverly and Maze at this years Coors Light Cincinnati Riverfront Stadium Festival.