Kymone Freeman was the director of the National Black LUV Festival (1997-2010) recognized as a Washington, D.C. Mayor's Art Award Finalist for Excellence in Service to the Arts in 2006 and received a Mayoral Proclamation in 2007. NBLF was the largest annual AIDS mobilization in WDC for six years and partially credited with the passing of Initiative Measure 62: Treatment instead of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders in 2002. Freeman has appeared along side Mark Twain and Harriet Tubman in newspapers and subway cars throughout WDC metro area as a Clinical AIDS Vaccine Trial Participant and NIH “Everyday Heroes” Ad Campaign Model to bring attention to this pandemic.
He is a founding board member for Words Beats & Life, a Hip Hop Non-Profit and co-founder of Bum Rush the Boards the largest annual youth chess competition in WDC. He is the subject of one chapter of the book Beat of A Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life (Hyperion). He interned at Common Sense for Drug Policy: A Harm Reduction Organization. Worked as a Consultant with the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and appeared in several cities across the country when he participated in the DPA's Breaking the Chain: The War on Drugs and People of Color Conferences, a scholarship received from American Friends Service Committee to spend the summer in Nairobi, Kenya for an international leadership conference resulted in him returning to the states as a playwright with three productions to his credit. He received the 22nd Annual Larry Neal Award for Drama for his successful debut play Prison Poetry that has sold-out the Historic Lincoln Theatre and Studio Theatre during the Hip Hop Theatre Festival; with additional appearances at THEARC Theatre, Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Facility and several college campuses where his work has been included in the Black History curriculum of Maryland’s Eastern shore.
He has conducted production workshops at the National Black Theatre Festival and Institute of Policy Studies. He is a 2010 Green For All Fellow and is co-founder of We ACT Radio 1480 AM DC's only independent radio station.
Awards
Recipient of the Fellows Fund micro-grant award for:
We ACT Radio Do Something GREEN (Sustainability Initiative)
Washington DC- Social Art and Culture
In order to claim the title of DC’s new progressive radio station, not only will we embrace a Green renewable platform, but our broadcast studio itself will serve as a functional blueprint of sustainability for community members and listeners to follow. Funds requested will used for the following activities, to be carried out by We ACT Radio staff, volunteers, and community partners: 1. energy audit, 2. weatherized studio, 3. rainwater barrels installed, 4. community garden spearheaded, 5. entire staff participation est 30+, 6. promote community open houses to highlight work, share resources, & encourage duplication.