Annual ceremony will include youth performances and essayists, Interfaith Choir, Poet Laureate and more.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, the Somerville Office of Commissions and the Somerville Public Schools announce the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration event, entitled, “Power to Impact Positive Change in our Community,” to be held on Monday, Jan. 18, in observance of national Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Beginning at 11 a.m., and will include performances by the Somerville High School World Percussion Ensemble, El Sistema Somerville Youth Orchestra, MLK Jr. Somerville Interfaith Choir, SheBoom, the Center for Arabic Culture Children’s Choir, Somerville’s Poet Laureate, Nicole Terez Dutton, Somerville youth poets, and Somerville Public School student MLK Jr Day essayists. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.The 2016 event will be held at the East Somerville Community School auditorium (50 Cross St.)

The event is organized in cooperation with the City of Somerville Health and Human Services Department, Somerville Public Schools, the Somerville Human Rights Commission, the Somerville Commission for Women, Naveo Credit Union, and Winter Hill Bank.

For more information, please contact Director of the Office of Somerville Commissions Sonja Darai at 617-625-6600 ext 2406, orSDarai@somervillema.gov.