Last Saturday, attendees gathered at the CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio on Franklin Street, a space run by Carolina Performing Arts, to enjoy three hours of programming from various artists and performers including DJ Bello, Black Umfolosi, CJ Suitt, Focus Dance, Zankiliwa, Diali Cissokho and Kaira Ba.<\/p>\n
The festival also featured an arts and craft station for attendees to create Africa-inspired memorabilia and Yagg Sii Tenn, a food truck that serves pan-African cuisine.<\/p>\n
At the second annual Africa Fest to be held at UNC, Associate Director of the African Studies Center Ada Umenwaliri said her team had ample time to prepare and coordinate logistics since the 2021 event, which was held outdoors at the FedEx Global Education Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately after the last Africa Fest, I kind of locked down (CPA). It is an event space \u2014 it has features that we needed. The stage can be moved around. It has seating, it has sound and all the technical needs to help with sound production,\u201d Umenwaliri said.<\/p>\n
Adun Akinola, a UNC student who is part of Zankiliwa, said her experience performing at this year\u2019s Africa Fest was exciting for the dance group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been performing with Zanki for a while\u2013just feeling the tension, everyone\u2019s gotta be here on time, all the hassle and back and forth to have such an amazing product\u2014it’s really nice. You\u2019re up there, the adrenaline rushes, the crowd is engaging with you, and all the faces, all the energy\u2013it’s a really great experience to perform,\u201d Akinola said.<\/p>\n
It was the first time attending the festival for UNC sophomore Foluwa Agbebi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was honestly really cool to see just a modern African dance group at UNC, far far away from the place where it originated,\u201d Agbebi said.<\/p>\n
UNC Zankiliwa is one of four subgroups of the Organization For African Students’ Interests And Solidarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really cool the way they involved the crowd by showing them the dance moves \u2014 I was not expecting that at all,\u201d Agbebi said.<\/p>\n
At 8 p.m., Meklit Hadero \u2014 an Ethiopian-American singer, songwriter, composer and cultural activist \u2014 headlined a performance at Memorial Hall.<\/p>\n
Alison Friedman, director of the CPA, said in an email that there was a lot of enthusiasm to make Africa Fest bigger and better since last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFestivals like Africa Fest help us celebrate what is right here in our own neighborhoods and connect communities across Chapel Hill and the Triangle that might not normally cross paths with each other,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cAfrica Fest is just one of the many partners with whom CPA is excited to collaborate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria Rovine, a professor of art history and director of the African Studies Center, said the center is planning a state-wide kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum about contemporary Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cShort term, we are always working to do events on campus and collaborate with K-12 teachers throughout the state and also to find ways for UNC students to go to Africa and bring African students to UNC,\u201d Rovine said.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the Oak Foundation granted the UNC ASC $500,000 to expand its work into lesson plans across the state that focus on curated social studies, arts and music focused on Africa. In addition, UNC’s area studies centers \u2013 which includes the ASC \u2014 will receive approximately $12 million in federal funding over the next four years to support global programming, events and coursework.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince moving here, I\u2019ve heard the assumption that Chapel Hill is not as diverse as it actually is. Fests like this showcase artists based right here in the Triangle, so communities and neighbors can celebrate each other,\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2022 Africa Fest hosted by the UNC African Studies Center was a day filled with live music, dance performances and poetry in celebration of African culture, art and history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":20495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12],"tags":[7,30,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-20498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-entertainment","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\n