2019 year in review
HIGHLIGHTS
Completing our 2018 Festival Bakanal de Afrique- Wey you dey?, a month-long multi-disciplinary and multi-event project, employing and showcasing over 60 artists of various African descent.
Dreaming and realizing our Lighting Fellowship program for women of African descent to train and apprentice in Lighting Design and Technology to increase employment and creative opportunities for Black people in the arts industry.
Serving and collaborating with over 146 artists and cultural workers in 2019 through 8 programs and 63 workshops/events
Our 16-person performing Ensemble Gbedu Town Radio staging and presenting a new commissioned piece for Ethnic Dance Festival
Conceiving and Implementing our first round of Onye Ozi, an artist for social change project aimed at opening pathways for discourse among different communities of African descent
Creating and maintaining an informative and cultural space in the social media sphere to a local audience of over 10k
The details
In 2019 we perambulated with Partners & Collaborators including Dancer’s Group, Lotus Bloom, Dimensions Dance Theater, Dance Mission Theater, RCD/Fox Courts Housing, EastSide Arts Alliance, Oakland Museum of California, Worlds Arts West/SF Ethnic Dance Festival, ODK Dance, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Freight & Salvage, A.C.T, Jollof Festival, Umoja Festival, Pan African Fest, Priority Africa Network, The Flight Deck, California Arts Council, Akonadi Foundation, the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program.
With these partnerships…
8 Programs came to life!
Bakanal de Afrique: Multidisciplinary festival of Urban African arts & culture
Afro-Urban Dance Experience: Popular Afro-Diasporic dance workshops, performances & cultural commentary
Onye Ozi: An artist fellowship focused on relationships between *Africans & *African Americans in the United States
Stage Lighting Design & Tech Training: (with Dance Mission) for Black Womxn and Gender non-binary people
For People of African Descent: Workshops in a variety of art disciplines (i.e song, theater, writing) and professional development activities (social media, financial management etc) catered to our community
Community Events: Free/Low-cost Socials catered to African diaspora communities
Nisa Raqs: Cultural exchange project between women and girls of Arab & African descent
Gbedu Town Radio: Afro-pop ensemble of dancers & musicians
WHO? WHAT?
42 Dance Workshops, 3 Artist Professional Development Projects, 63 Classes, 25 Collaborations & Projects Seeded, 10 Events/Performances, presenting & or collaborating with artists including Mokoomba, Tribu Baharú, Seun Kuti, Lydrock, Sayrah, Kanukai Chigamba, Ezinne Asinugo, Shemica Johnson, Naima Shalhoub, Ejay, Kendra Odesanya, Jason Facey, Philip Agyapong, Rashad Pridgen, Yaps Jolito, Chinyakere Ensemble, Chocolate Platinum, and Stephanie Johnson to name a few,
OUR REACH
We reached a 48K Global Audience including in countries United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom, France, Ghana, South Africa, Yemen, Lebanon and Zimbabwe. Repping cities like Accra, Harare, Abidjan, Soweto, Joza, Brazzaville, Nairobi, Lagos, Victoria Falls, Yaounde, Freetown, Mogadishu, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Bogota, Detroit, Chicago, Victoria Falls, Los Angeles, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Paris, and London
We are keeping the same energy in 2020. Join us.