PHILADELPHIA – Today, Mayor Kenney was joined by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter at South Philadelphia High School, a City of Philadelphia designated community school, to award high performing Philadelphia students with free tickets to the 10^th Annual Roots Picnic on June 3, 2017. The City’s three community schools serving grades 9-12 – South Philadelphia High School, Kensington Health Sciences Academy, and Murrell Dobbins CTE High School – were beneficiaries of 450 tickets for seniors who made the honor roll, have stellar attendance, and/or demonstrate excellence in the arts.

The Roots Picnic will take place at Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing, on the Delaware River Waterfront on Saturday, June 3rd, 2017. This year’s headliners include Pharrell, The Roots, Lil Wayne, Solange, Jeezy, 21 Savage, and Kimbra.

“The Roots Picnic is part of a wonderful summer tradition in Philadelphia and I am thankful that The Roots selected students in our first cohort of community schools for this exciting opportunity,” said Mayor Kenney. “I am proud to see Philadelphia’s own giving back to our community by underscoring the hard work of our students.”

“Philadelphia has a great musical tradition and that certainly includes Roots Picnic,” said Dr. William R. Hite, Superintendent of The School District of Philadelphia. “The Roots are already strong supporters of Philadelphia schools and I am thrilled that some of our hardest working students will get the opportunity to see them perform. It will be a well deserved reward for our students as they complete the school year.”

“The Picnic has grown into a highly credible festival over the last decade due in part to loyal music fans over the last decade,” said Roots frontman Black Thought. “In celebration of this milestone, we knew we wanted to do something special to give back to the city that helped shape its success. We are inspired by the city’s community schools initiative that helps increase resources for Philadelphia students and families so we thought there was no better way to celebrate the picnic’s success, then to reward young people with an opportunity to enjoy the terrific lineup we’ve curated.”

This ticket giveaway comes on the heels of the release of the Mayor’s Office of Education’s Community School Plans, which found the desire for more cultural and social opportunities to be a common theme across all community schools. Funded by the Philadelphia Beverage Tax, community schools remove barriers that keep children from succeeding in school by aligning public and private resources to meet the specific needs of each school community.

Roots Picnic tickets are still available for purchase through Ticketmaster.com, Live Nation Box Office, TLA Box Office, Ticketmaster Outlets or by-phone at 800-745-3000.

View photos from the event on the City of Philadelphia Flickr page. Please credit photos to the City of Philadelphia.

About The Roots
The Roots, the legendary, Grammy Award winning hip hop crew and arguably the hardest working musicians in popular culture, continue to break the mold 25 years after the band was founded. The brainchild of childhood friends Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, The Roots began their career playing bucket drums and freestyling on the streets and competing with Boyz II Men for top honors at The Philadelphia High school for Creative and Performing Arts. The Roots have become one of the best known and most respected hip-hop acts in the business, winning four Grammys, including “Best R&B Album” for Wake Up!, “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance” for “Hang in There” (with John Legend) and “Best Group or Duo R&B Vocal Performance” for “Shine.” This brings the band’s GRAMMY nomination count to twelve. Additionally, “The Roots Picnic,” a yearly star-studded mix of musicians, has become a celebrated institution. The Roots were named one of the greatest live bands around by Rolling Stone and serve as the official house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.