“Everywhere I go people are talking about the festival,” says long-time African Festival of the Arts (AFA) patron Gleatha Glispie. Gleatha stores boxes of goods at her home for a ninth generation Nigerian textile clothing artist vendor who was heading home to get more goods for the Labor Day weekend African Festival of the Arts. “We met at the Black Women‘s Expo,” Gleatha said, “And I fell in love with his handmade shirts. So, I decided to help him out with storage space.
That is the spirit of the 33RD ANNUAL AFRICAN FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS that has been on a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic. “We return encouraging all to come together as a community, to reconnect and reenergize in the spirit of harambee, which means “all pull together” in Kiswahili,” says Patrick Woodtor, festival founder and president of Africa International House USA, Inc. “In the midst of the world’s turmoil,” Woodtor adds, “now is the time for us to unite as a community to find peace and strength and to determine new possibilities for our collective future.”
Everyone agrees that the Festival has become the largest end-of-summer celebration of Black culture in the Midwest or possibly the country. One of its highlights is the vast array of over two hundred vendors representing all points of the African diaspora.
More importantly, “our Festival” has become an annual gathering or reunion for family and friends. It is usually seen as the last big bash of the summer and the last stop for vendors wrapping up the summer season.
Prior to the Festival’s opening on Labor Day Weekend, Africa International House USA, Inc. (AIH) will host its annual Gala Reception on Saturday, SEPTEMBER 27, from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. The Reception will be held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts on the University of Chicago campus. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and The Honorable Mattie Hunter, Illinois State Senator of the Third Legislative District and Senate Majority Caucus Chair, are the venerated community elders selected as the honorary Grand Baba and Grand Yeye, respectively, to oversee the Festival’s return. They will be recognized during the Gala for their continuing reign from the last live Festival event of 2020.
This year’s Festival’s art image is a community quilt art rendering of the Egungun by Reneau Diallo, co-founder of the AFA Quilt Pavilion. The Egungun is a Yoruba masquerade for ancestor reverence or for the ancestors themselves as a collective force.
“I am so honored to have my quilt art used for the AFA,” says quilt artist and certified midwife Reneau Diallo, PhD. “It is so spiritual on a few levels: First, my DNA supports my Yoruba ancestry, so the art is a celebration that honors my ancestors. Secondly, in 1999, Adedayo ‘Dayo’ Laoye, who was born in Nigeria and raised in the Yoruba tradition, chose the Egungun for the festival poster and gave me permission to carry the theme in the first Festival quilt. Now, my art has come full circle to be claimed as art in its own right.”
Diallo’s quilt was among those included in the Spring 2022 AIH education initiative funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art entitled “ART & AGENCY: Exploring the African American Quilting Tradition.” Companion exhibitions at the AIH Center for Contemporary Art and History, Navy Pier, and the DuSable Museum of African American History featured quilt art by the Needles and Threads Quilters Guild of Chicago, the Quegeh Quilters in Liberia, West Africa, and noted quilt artists Jim Smoote and Dorothy Straughter, who is also a quilt historian. The quilt art will be on display in the Quilt Pavilion during the Festival.
Labor Day Weekend, September 2-5, 2022, all are invited to the affordable and family friendly Black cultural arts immersive experience in Chicago’s Washington Park. The culturally rich interactive event brings the art, sights, tastes, sounds, and spirituality of African Diaspora global cultures to Chicago – all amid a replicated African village!
Non-stop entertainment, representing the full arc of global Black music expression, will be featured on two stages. International disc jockeys will pump-up the spirit and segue between great talent, including Kenyan-born Chicago-raised CHAI TULANI, with his Mchuzi or “sauce” (in Swahili) of Hip Hop, Rap and Reggae; classical jazz vocalist MEGAN MCNEAL; spoken word artist JANEFF THE POET; and smooth jazz with JERICHO.
Chicago’s own “Empress of Soul,” TERISA GRIFFIN, will launch the Harambee reunion celebration with her soul stirring rendition of R&B favorites. Nigerian artists dominate Saturday night with REMA, who rose to fame with his “Iron Man” release, which Barack Obama had on his 2019 summer playlist. The twin Nigerian brothers of P-SQUARE, PETER and PAUL OKOYE, are back together for their Chicago Festival performance. Gospel sensation ERICA CAMPBEL holds her own on Sunday with the CHICAGO MASS CHOIR and THE VICTORY TRAVELERS. The R&B award nominated SWV (Sisters with Voices) will rock the park and bridge the continents through song with South African mega-star JOHNATHAN BUTLER for the final African Festival of the Arts 2022 Harambee performance Monday night. Comedian Damon Williams, our gospel sister Pam Morris Walton, and Afro Zone’s Shelia O are the weekend hosts.
The Festival’s gated grounds are a safe zone for children who can witness extraordinary sites, 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 you and inspire the dancer in you! You can discover natural healing practices and learn from the masters in the Spiritual, Health and Wellness Pavilions in the Ancestral Grove. Featured here will be interactive activities, including cycling, yoga, meditation, and Zumba dancing! Get first-edition, signed books and hear from noted authors and poets in the Authors & 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. Purchase collectible fine visual art and meet the artists in the Fine Art and Quilt Pavilions. You can also shop for authentic museum quality textiles, Shona stone sculptures, and wood carvings that are desired for high-end interior design. Add wearable art, leather crafts, and unique handmade jewelry by acclaimed designers to your personal and heirloom collections. Learn about African culture and current topics of interest in the Heritage Pavilion during daily international Internet-based conversations.
This eclectic end-of-summer Black cultural arts celebration and gathering has something for everyone! We look forward to celebrating with you in Washington Park. Visit: www.AfricanFestivalChicago.com or www.AIHUSA.org for full performance and ticket information about the 33rd annual Africa International House Gala and the 33rd Annual African Festival of the Arts
2022 AFA TICKETS
$40/Adult per day OR $30 in advance $120/Adults per four-day weekend OR $75.00 in advance $20/Senior per day $10/child under 13 per day: Free for children under 6 years. $75/Family per day, which includes up to 4 children with two adults
FESTIVAL VIP OPTIONS
1-Day VIP – $150 (Back stage Hospitality Pavilion Access) 1-Day VIP GOLD – $250 (Reserved Stage Front-seating with sponsored beer and wine)
2022 AFA GALA TICKETS:
$250/person $375/Couple – includes 1-day Festival VIP pass
