Sleet to be honored with festival

Jan. 5—Drew Hardesty, president of Wonder Boy Media and a graduate of Leadership Owensboro class of 2021, shared his excitement for the class' upcoming project of celebrating the life of native Moneta Sleet Jr. during his presentation Wednesday at the Owensboro Rotary Club's meeting.

The class will present the "Through Sleet's Eyes" festival from Feb. 24-25 at the RiverPark Center, which will include an exhibit of Sleet's most-famous images, a documentary and a one-man-show titled "Power of the Lens" presented by the RiverPark Center's Arts Teach Kids (ATK) program.

"(He had) just a prolific career," Hardesty said. "The range of his work is very vast — from children, to fashion, the Civil Rights Movement. He was such an amazing figure."

Born in Owensboro in 1926, Sleet was known as a photojournalist, with his work being seen in "Ebony" magazine, among other publications.

He was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for his photograph of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr.

The documentary, which is in production, required traveling throughout the country, according to Hardesty — visiting Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — to speak to Sleet's remaining living son and his former colleagues at "Ebony" and "Jet" magazines.

Hardesty said the trips gave insight on who Sleet was a person.

"The common thread we got from people we've interviewed was that he was a gentle giant and just the most humble thing," Hardesty said. "...When they told him he'd won the Pulitzer Prize, he said 'You must be joking' ... because he just couldn't believe something that he had shot would make it in there."

Rich Jorn, executive director of the RiverPark Center, said he was looking for a local history idea for a production to present as part of the ATK program before being approached by Leadership Owensboro about its idea to honor Sleet.

The show will have school performances Friday, Feb. 24, followed by a public performance Saturday, Feb. 25.

Jorn plans to bring the show back "every couple years" following its debut "so that everybody knows who Moneta Sleet was and that they're proud that he grew up in their hometown."

Hardesty said they will be also involving Sleet's alma mater, Kentucky State University, and the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, with the latter having a collection of Sleet's work.

"That's another Owensboro perspective that we don't have," he said. "We interviewed a man that was about 100 years old that was a friend of his in school, ...but we need more of the Owensboro perspective because his family's not here anymore, and we just want to learn more about him."

Hardesty said additional details regarding the festival will be announced Monday.