A. CURTIS FARROW
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
IRVING STREET REP, INC.
A. Curtis Farrow has received many honors for his business experience including a commendation from former Newark Mayor Cory Booker in 2011, and former Mayor Sharpe James in 2005 who proclaimed June 17, 2005 as A. Curtis Farrow Day. In 2009 he was named Man of the Year by the Christian Times, and has received a commendation from the Manhattan Borough President and the Public Advocate Award for New York City. Mr. Farrow was also named as one of the most influential men in Gospel music. He has won two Emmy awards for producing McDonald’s Gospelfest, and received 12 nominations.
Mr. Farrow had an illustrious career on Wall Street. He was the Assistant Mutual Fund Manager at the Bank of New York. In 1984, Mr. Farrow was Bank of New York’s Employee of the Year. He later became Manager of Mutual Funds at Smith Barney. In 1986 Mr. Farrow left Wall Street to pursue a life-long dream of owning an entertainment company.
In February 2014 Mr. Farrow fulfilled a long time dream to break the Guinness World Record for World’s Largest Gospel Choir by organizing and leading 1171 voices. For the sixteenth year Mr. Farrow brought his directing and producing talents to make McDonald’s Gospelfest 2015 the most successful and well attended gospel event ever, it’s reach spanning the globe. Mr. Farrow has worked with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, as well as Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Steve Harvey, James Earl Jones and Vickie Winans, to name a few.
As facilitator of McDonald’s African American Future Achievers Scholarship, Mr. Farrow cherishes his role in overseeing the distribution of four-year scholarships to deserving high school graduates. He is responsible for the dispersal of $290,000.00 in scholarships each year. His staunch advocating of multiple year grants to the students has resulted in a 99.1% college graduation rate for all the awardees. In addition he is a Board Member of RMHC and sees to the allocation of funds to worthy causes throughout the community.
In 2007 he conceived the Black Media Legends Awards which has for the past six years honored such luminaries as Soledad O’Brien, Harold Dow, Bernard Shaw, Roland Martin, Sue Simmons, Don Lemon, Bryant Gumbel, Janice Huff, Greg Gumbel and the legendary Hal Jackson. In 2000 Mr. Farrow directed and co-produced The Paul Robeson Gala “Voice of the Millennium” at Newark’s NJPAC. The star studded cast included Whitney Houston, James Earl Jones, Lynne Whitfield, Branford Marsalis, Avery Brooks, The Dance Theatre of Harlem and many, many more.
Mr. Farrow is a veritable powder keg of energy and talent whose directing credits span the US and abroad. His directing and producing credits include national tours of: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Smokey Joe’s Café, Sophisticated Ladies, Five Guys Named Moe, Your Arms Too Short to Box With God, Godspell and Forever Plaid as well as original works The Nat King Cole Songbook, The Elegance of Ellington and Gospitality. His productions are constantly met with rave reviews and he is always credited with bringing the best of African American Broadway talent to regional theatres, universities and nightclubs.
As former Minister of Music for The New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey he was responsible for the organization, planning and execution of the home going services for the late Whitney Houston, which was seen around the world. Mr. Farrow credits everything in his life to his strong belief in God, and his motto has always been “God as the great Creator has made each of us in his own image. Therefore we are little Creators. We shall spend all of our days creating!”