This is Ed.
You can call Ed many things that he deserves but humbly won’t accept: Living legend, mentor, visionary, role model, superhero. If you’re a friend, you can call him by his childhood nickname “Nardie” (bestowed upon him by his mother for being “naughty” as a little Portland boy many moons ago). This caption section isn’t nearly big enough to make room for all of Nardie’s accomplishments, but we’ll try our best.
Ed is the founder and retired Executive Director of Louisville’s River City Drum Corp, which he started in 1991 with his late wife Zambia Nkrumah. On paper, RCDC is a “west Louisville nonprofit arts and education program for at risk youth and families”, but in reality it is much more than that to the thousands of young lives it has impacted.
Ed has been recognized by the Governor (Arts Folk Heritage Award), the Mayor (Louisville KY Freedom Award), the City of Louisville (Youth Service Workers Award) and many other notable organizations (Black Achiever of the Year; KY Center ArtsReach Living the Vision Award; KY Human Rights Commission’s Executive Directors Award; National Education Association; United States Artist Fellows Music; Changing Lives Award: the National Council of Negro Women’s Courage Award). He’s an active member of Leadership Louisville and sits on several boards, including our @portlandmuseumky. Ed has called Portland his home for decades, living next to the historic little church on Lytle street his mother raised him in. He’s a focal point of the new documentary River City Drumbeat, based on the beloved River City Drum Corp.
The film tells a story about the transformative power of arts and community against the backdrop of a disenfranchised, predominantly Black west Louisville, long saddled with higher rates of poverty, ill health, educational struggles and violence. Many of the young drummers come from single-parent homes that struggle financially and face barriers from under-resourced schools and low expectations. Ed sums up his mission succinctly, “We give children a level playing field, and guess what? The competition rises.”
Thank you, Ed. We appreciate you today more than ever. #ourportlandportraits #louisvillelove
