Memphis Tennessee

One of the largest celebrations in Memphis is Memphis in May. The month-long series of events promotes Memphis' heritage and outreach of its people far beyond the city's borders. Each year, Memphis in May honors a different country, highlighting various aspects of the honored nation's history and culture. Since its founding, the economic and educational impact of Memphis in May has given a significant boost to the city each spring. The celebration includes a diverse mix, beginning during the first weekend of the month at Tom Lee Park, the site of the Beale Street Music Festival. During International Week, the city focuses on its honored country, part of a larger program in coordination with area schools to broaden cultural awareness among students. Other signature events of Memphis in May include the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world) and the closing event of the month - a performance of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra on the river called the Sunset Symphony.

Carnival Memphis (formerly known as the Memphis Cotton Carnival), is a series of parties and festivities staged every year by the Carnival Memphis Association and its member krewes (similar to that of Mardi Gras) during the early summer. Carnival salutes various aspects of Memphis and its industries, and is reigned over by the current year's secretly selected King & Queen of Carnival. Fall brings the Mid-South Fair to the city each year.

An arts festival, the Cooper-Young Festival, is held annually in September in the Cooper-Young district of Midtown Memphis. The event draws artists from all over North America, and includes art sales, contests, and displays. Since the late 1980s the Cooper-Young Festival has grown into one of Memphis' most anticipated events, with over 50,000 guests in recent years enjoying a mix of art, music and crafts presented by over 300 artisans from around the country. The festival celebrates the arts, people, culture and Memphis heritage. In addition to art, the festival includes sales of clothing, jewelry, live music, and gay novelty items.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, in August 2005 Memphis co-hosted the Voodoo Music Experience, normally the centerpiece of Halloween festivities in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2006 the annual musical event returned to New Orleans.

Memphis is the home of founders and establishers of various American music genres, including Blues, Gospel, Rock n' Roll, and "sharecropper" country music (in contrast to the "rhinestone" country sound of Nashville). Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and B. B. King were all getting their starts in Memphis in the 1950s. They are respectively dubbed the "King" of Country, Rock n' Roll, and Blues. Other famous musicians who either grew up or got their starts in the Memphis area include the Box Tops, the Gentrys, the Grifters, Nights Like These, Aretha Franklin, Carl Perkins, John Lee Hooker, Justin Timberlake, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Charlie Rich, Lucero (band), Al Green, Muddy Waters, Big Star, Tina Turner, Roy Orbison, Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sam Cooke, Booker T. and the MGs, Otis Redding, Arthur Lee, The Blackwood Brothers, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, The Staple Singers, Sam and Dave, Three 6 Mafia, DJ Squeeky, 8 Ball & MJG,Yo Gotti, Elise Neal, Shawn Lane, Terry Manning, The Sylvers, Steve Cropper, Anita Ward and "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy.

The Highland Strip is an area located near the University of Memphis and is known as a haven for the college crowd. Venues such as Newby's bring in local musicians as well as nationally touring acts on a weekly basis.

Well-known writers from Memphis include Civil War historian Shelby Foote and playwright Tennessee Williams, who wrote his first play on Snowden Street and saw it performed on Glenview Street.

Memphis has also had a significant impact in the world of photography, William Eggleston, the pioneer of color photography as a serious artistic medium and considered one of the greatest photographers of all time, still lives and works in Memphis. A number of younger photographers, including Huger Foote, are Memphians. Some other notable Memphis photographers are fashion photographer Jack Robinson and civil rights-era artist Ernest C. Withers.

In the last decade, the art scene in Memphis has exploded. The independent art scene has centered primarily in South Main, located in downtown Memphis on the trolley line. More than a dozen art galleries have moved into the neighborhood, fueling a redevelopment boom that has expanded into new residential construction. Perhaps the most interesting conversion has been the Power House, a former power plant near Central Station that has been transformed into contemporary art space. The Cooper-Young neighborhood in Midtown is also home to several art galleries. The Edge is a nascent arts neighborhood, located at the edge of downtown near Madison Avenue, Marshall, and Union Avenue. The Edge is home to Memphis' Black Repertory Theater, world-famous Sun Studios, and Delta Axis, among others.