DAWA Presents Laughter Is Medicine - September 6, 2024

DAWA (Diver­si­ty Aware­ness and Well­ness in Action) is an inno­v­a­tive non­prof­it ded­i­cat­ed to invest­ing in BIPOC com­mu­ni­ty and cul­ture and they have some­thing to cel­e­brate and want you to be a part of that celebration.

2024 marks the fifth anniver­sary of DAWA and to cele­ber­ate, they’re bring­ing leg­endary actor and come­di­an Tom­my David­son to the Long Cen­ter on Fri­day Sep­tem­ber 6, 2024 at 7:30pm.

Since its launch in 2019, DAWA’s com­mit­ment is to pro­vide sup­port through four pro­grams that advance their over­all mission:

• DAWA Fund, which pro­vides low-bar­ri­er direct finan­cial sup­port to Austin’s BIPOC com­mu­ni­ty frontliners
• Vision:8291(1928 in reverse), a part­ner­ship with SXSW focus­ing on cen­ter­ing and ele­vat­ing the work of Austin-based BIPOC-led grass­roots organizations
• Black Live Music Fund cre­ates artist edu­ca­tion and eco­nom­ic ini­tia­tives to help recip­i­ents build sus­tain­able music careers
• DAWA Stu­dios, which opened almost two years ago cre­ates space for BIPOC pod­cast­ers, cre­atives, and grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions to pro­duce high-qual­i­ty media content

Through its efforts, DAWA has cre­at­ed a pro­found social and eco­nom­ic impact on the local com­mu­ni­ty. The non­prof­it has con­tributed more than $288,000 direct­ly to com­mu­ni­ty front­lin­ers, $20,000 for six bipoc-led orga­ni­za­tions, over $40,000 paid in per­for­mance fees to Black musi­cians, and over 1,000 hours of free con­tent pro­duced in DAWA studios.

Best known as one of the stars of the hit tele­vi­sion show ​“In Liv­ing Col­or” along with fea­tured cred­its in ​“Bam­boo­zled” and ​“Black Dyna­mite,” Tom­my Davidson’s excep­tion­al range – from stand-up com­e­dy and act­ing to ver­sa­tile music accom­plish­ments – has earned him a rep­u­ta­tion as an extra­or­di­nary per­former. Davidson’s 70-minute stand-up set will be accen­tu­at­ed by spe­cial local musi­cal and com­e­dy guests for an unfor­get­table evening of cul­ture and comedy.