Africa International House USA, Inc. (AIH) will present performing artists from all points of the African Diaspora, including the illustrious Dee Alexander to celebrate the United Nation’s proclaimed International Decade for People of African Descent during the 34th Annual African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park during the Labor Day Weekend, September 1-4, 2023.
Chicago’s top dignitaries will lead the Festival and be recognized for supporting one of Chicago’s longest running and most successful neighborhood festivals. Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn-Gresham area, and the Honorable Ambassador Carol Moseley-Braun will serve as the honorary Grand Baba and Grand Yeye. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, a festival supporter since her early political career as an alderman, will receive the inaugural “Leading Women of the African Diaspora Iyalode” award.
Illinois State Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Mattie Hunter, 3rd District, who ushered the Festival through the COVID pandemic as Grand Yeye will be recognized for designating $1 million in the state capital budget for AIH to acquire a permanent brick and mortar home. “Africa International House is committed to educating all people about the greatness of Africa and people of African ancestry,” said Patrick Woodtor, president and founder of AIH and the African Festival of the Arts. “We stand in unity with the United Nations in recognizing the undeniable connectedness of all African Diaspora people and our collective impact in shaping and informing global cultures, and we look forward to continuing our m mission in a new home!” The nation’s largest Labor Day Weekend celebration of Black global culture attracts over 75,000 culture enthusiasts to Chicago’s South Side Hyde Park museum district and the surrounding historic communities of Washington Park, Woodlawn and Bronzeville.
Legacy sponsor Ethiopian Airlines will offer attendees a chance to win free airline tickets to Africa through a Festival raffle. Abdul Aziz, Sales Manager Mid-West and Central USA – Ethiopian Airlines, says the Festival is a lucrative investment offering an opportunity to reach the burgeoning trillion-dollar African-American consumer market. This traditional end-of-summer, culturally immersive, and interactive event brings the art, sights, tastes, sounds, rhythms, and spirit of African Diaspora cultures to Chicago in a replicated African village with over 300 vendors!
The marketplace is a shopper’s delight with a treasure trove of wonders! Purchase collectible fine visual arts and meet the artists in the Fine Art and Quilt Pavilions. The annual Quilt Pavilion features fine quilt art in association with the Needles and Threads Quilters Guild. Shop for authentic museum-quality textiles, Shona stone sculptures, and wood carvings desired for high-end interior design. Add wearable art, leather crafts, and hand made unique jewelry by acclaimed designers to your personal and heirloom collections.
The Festival takes pride in supporting the careers of artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Frank Frazier, and Uwa Uwa. Stuart McClean from New Orleans has been with the Festival for several years as an art vendor and is the 2023 featured artist. Non-stop entertainment representing the full arc of African Diaspora music expression is featured on two stages! Headliners include Chicago’s jazz maven Dee Alexander, Wazumbians an Afro-fusion music group from Ghana and Mamadou Diabete & Percussion Mania, known for its virtuosic balafon playing, rhythm and West African storytelling. Old-school superstar group, CAMEO, closes the weekend! The Festival’s gated grounds are a safe zone for children, who can witness extraordinary sights, like the towering S.P.I.R.I.T. Stilt Walkers or engage in activities from computer coding to arts and crafts with the Betty Shabazz Academy.
New and experienced musicians are invited to the Drum Circle, where hypnotic rhythms will revitalize and inspire the dancer in you!
Discover natural healing practices with the Earth Center and learn from the masters in the Spiritual,
Health and Wellness Pavilions in the Ancestral Grove that feature interactive activities, including cycling, yoga, meditation, and Zumba dancing! Get first-edition, signed books and hear from noted authors and poets in the Author & Book Pavilion. See films by local and internationally known filmmakers in the Cinema & Black Storytelling Pavilion. Spice up your palette with culinary delights of the African Diaspora, from Jollof rice to plantains and cassava greens along the Bank of the Nile Food Court.
In the Caribbean spirit, it’s a “Tout Bagay” event offering something for everyone! The entire family will enjoy abundant fun and take home great memories at an affordable cost! Visit the website often for daily updates at www.AfricanFestivalChicago.com or scan here: Is there a QR code?
“The African Festival of the Arts is home to people of the African Diaspora, and for sponsors, a dream come true!
The vendors, entertainment and food scream, ‘For us, by us,’ and provide a sense of pride, belonging and community where we always see familiar faces and can be our true selves. Like me, many enthusiastically attend annually.
Sponsors can get up close and personal with several different communities of Black people. Attendees are happy to visit sponsor booths, especially if those managing them look like them. Back in the day, we conducted a study at the Festival to help a pharma brand understand the Black community’s knowledge and issues around diabetes. The research helped them understand how their current messaging needed to be revised to be authentic, more relevant, and relatable to this audience.”
— Pepper Miller
The annual Quilt Pavilion features fine quilt art in association with the Needles and Threads Quilters Guild. Shop for authentic museum-quality textiles, Shona stone sculptures, and wood carvings desired for high-end interior design. Add wearable art, leather crafts, and hand-made unique jewelry by acclaimed designers to your personal and heirloom collections.
About Africa International House USA, Inc.
The mission of Africa International House, identified by the IFF as a “Chicago Cultural Treasure,” is to serve as a center that exposes and educates all people to the individual works and collective contributions of African cultures.
Our mission is addressed through our flagship program, the African Festival of the Arts, and through other activities that promote African-based culture. Africa International House is an umbrella for linkages and exchanges of people from Africa and the African Diaspora.
AIH, governed by a board of directors, combines community support with corporate sponsorship to present Chicago audiences with art and cultural programs through our Center for Contemporary African Art and Culture. For more info visit: www.AIHUSA.org.
