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<span style="font-weight: bold">FESMAN 2009 </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">to be Held December 1 to 21, 2009</span>:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Largest Gathering of Renowned Artists from Africa and the Diaspora Worldwide</span>
FESMAN 2009 will be the largest ever gathering of renowned artists from Africa and the Diaspora worldwide, encompassing all forms and expressions of art, music, dance, literature, poetry, drama and cinema. The Festival is a wonderful opportunity for African Americans and friends of Africa in every field – including the arts, business, education, news media, and new technologies – to forge closer ties with the Continent.
Djibril Diallo, Senior Communications Advisor for UNAIDS New York Office writes:
On behalf of the Leadership Committee for the United States Launch of the World Festival of Black Arts 2009 (FESMAN 2009), I write to express my thanks and appreciation for your participation in the launch on January 14 at the United Nations in New York.
FESMAN 2009 is spearheaded by H.E. Maître Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, and will celebrate the achievements of the art and culture of Africa and the African Diaspora. As indicated in his keynote address, the President looks forward to efforts to build awareness and involvement in the U.S. for the Festival itself in Senegal on December 1 to 21, 2009.
FESMAN 2009 will highlight the power of artists and artistic expression to convey messages for development and peace, and to mobilize efforts to overcome HIV/AIDS and accelerate the achievement of the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Festival is also an occasion for the private sector, public institutions and foundations to promote new partnerships and opportunities with Africa.
We are pleased to include all who participated in the United States launch as part of the Friends of FESMAN 2009, a network that we are setting up to spread the word in the United States about the Festival.
FESMAN 2009 will be the largest ever gathering of renowned artists from Africa and the Diaspora worldwide, encompassing all forms and expressions of art, music, dance, literature, poetry, drama and cinema. The Festival is a wonderful opportunity for African Americans and friends of Africa in every field – including the arts, business, education, news media, and new technologies – to forge closer ties with the Continent.
In my capacity as Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Scientific Committee for FESMAN 2009, I would like to point out that the strategic objectives of the Festival include:
To reaffirm the role of artists and intellectuals in the African Renaissance;
To promote the better protections and wider distribution of the artistic and cultural works of the black world
To celebrate the intellectual, artistic and literary identity and the creativeness of the creators of Africa and the Diaspora
To offer conditions of expression to the creative artists of the black world, which will encourage them to unite together and help make their contributions to the implementation of NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s Development).
FESMAN will include a Symposium on the African Renaissance, performances, and exhibitions covering these disciplines: music, dance, painting, photography, sculpture, design and handicrafts, fashion design and hairdressing, cinema and video, theater, literature, and architecture (exhibition of models).
The Leadership Committee will continue to support the activities of the United States Committee for FESMAN 2009, under the dynamic and able chairmanship of Professor Molefi Kete Asante, which is organizing participation by African American artists in all fields in the Festival.
Thank you again for participating in the launch. We will keep you informed about further activities and ways for you to become more involved in this historic global celebration of African culture.
www.afropop.org
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More info: (forgot the url - just google Fesman)
(FESMAN) to open in five capitals
The Senegalese minister of Culture and Francophonie, Mame Biram Diouf, Thursday announced that the World festival of negro arts (FESMAN) will be held between 1-21 December, 2009, in five African capitals.
Giving details of the festival in Quebec, Canada, where the Francophonie summit is taking place, Diouf said the festival would take place simultaneously in Dakar (Senegal), Bamako (Mali), Banjul (Gambia), Bissau (Guinea Bissau) and Conakry (Guinea).
"President Abdoulaye Wade wishes that this festival have a truly Panafrican dimension. For this reason we envisaged to be able to organize the ev ents in those countries," declared the minister on in the sideline of the ministerial conference of the Francophonie (CMF).
The festival had suffered two consecutive postponements in the past.
FESMAN is defined as "the aesthetic crossroads of Africa, Europe and black America, whose impact on the world culture is immense".
Well known artistes like Manu Dibango, Césaria Evora, Dany Glover, Youssou NDour are expected to feature in the 2009 event.
------
Last night I attended a Tribute for director Bill Greaves at IFC in the West Village organized by Stranger than Fiction, the weekly series of documentary film screenings.
But it was perhaps the short 12 minute film, “The First World Festival Negro Arts” (the full documentary is 40 minutes), that stayed with me the longest. The festival was held in Dakar, Senegal in December 1965 and January 1966. Greaves was invited to make the official festival film. That film (that’s the first 3 minutes above) includes footage of Duke Ellington (and his band), Langston Hughes (looking at the art exhibit of the festival), Haile Selassie, Leopold Senghor, who organized the event, as well as numerous artists–especially dancing troupes and singers, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. Greaves shot the film without sound, then overdubbed it. I loved how Greaves captured the optimism of that early period of African independence so well, the relationship between African-American artists and the newly freed Africans, and joy of the people.
I am definitely looking forward to seeing the full 40 minute documentary.
The weekly Stranger Than Fiction screenings is worth investing time in. The series’ blog also contains some photographs taken at last night’s event.
Incidentally, there is an attempt to revive that festival in Dakar in December 2009.
<span style="font-weight: bold">to be Held December 1 to 21, 2009</span>:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Largest Gathering of Renowned Artists from Africa and the Diaspora Worldwide</span>
FESMAN 2009 will be the largest ever gathering of renowned artists from Africa and the Diaspora worldwide, encompassing all forms and expressions of art, music, dance, literature, poetry, drama and cinema. The Festival is a wonderful opportunity for African Americans and friends of Africa in every field – including the arts, business, education, news media, and new technologies – to forge closer ties with the Continent.
Djibril Diallo, Senior Communications Advisor for UNAIDS New York Office writes:
On behalf of the Leadership Committee for the United States Launch of the World Festival of Black Arts 2009 (FESMAN 2009), I write to express my thanks and appreciation for your participation in the launch on January 14 at the United Nations in New York.
FESMAN 2009 is spearheaded by H.E. Maître Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, and will celebrate the achievements of the art and culture of Africa and the African Diaspora. As indicated in his keynote address, the President looks forward to efforts to build awareness and involvement in the U.S. for the Festival itself in Senegal on December 1 to 21, 2009.
FESMAN 2009 will highlight the power of artists and artistic expression to convey messages for development and peace, and to mobilize efforts to overcome HIV/AIDS and accelerate the achievement of the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Festival is also an occasion for the private sector, public institutions and foundations to promote new partnerships and opportunities with Africa.
We are pleased to include all who participated in the United States launch as part of the Friends of FESMAN 2009, a network that we are setting up to spread the word in the United States about the Festival.
FESMAN 2009 will be the largest ever gathering of renowned artists from Africa and the Diaspora worldwide, encompassing all forms and expressions of art, music, dance, literature, poetry, drama and cinema. The Festival is a wonderful opportunity for African Americans and friends of Africa in every field – including the arts, business, education, news media, and new technologies – to forge closer ties with the Continent.
In my capacity as Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Scientific Committee for FESMAN 2009, I would like to point out that the strategic objectives of the Festival include:
To reaffirm the role of artists and intellectuals in the African Renaissance;
To promote the better protections and wider distribution of the artistic and cultural works of the black world
To celebrate the intellectual, artistic and literary identity and the creativeness of the creators of Africa and the Diaspora
To offer conditions of expression to the creative artists of the black world, which will encourage them to unite together and help make their contributions to the implementation of NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s Development).
FESMAN will include a Symposium on the African Renaissance, performances, and exhibitions covering these disciplines: music, dance, painting, photography, sculpture, design and handicrafts, fashion design and hairdressing, cinema and video, theater, literature, and architecture (exhibition of models).
The Leadership Committee will continue to support the activities of the United States Committee for FESMAN 2009, under the dynamic and able chairmanship of Professor Molefi Kete Asante, which is organizing participation by African American artists in all fields in the Festival.
Thank you again for participating in the launch. We will keep you informed about further activities and ways for you to become more involved in this historic global celebration of African culture.
www.afropop.org
----------
More info: (forgot the url - just google Fesman)
(FESMAN) to open in five capitals
The Senegalese minister of Culture and Francophonie, Mame Biram Diouf, Thursday announced that the World festival of negro arts (FESMAN) will be held between 1-21 December, 2009, in five African capitals.
Giving details of the festival in Quebec, Canada, where the Francophonie summit is taking place, Diouf said the festival would take place simultaneously in Dakar (Senegal), Bamako (Mali), Banjul (Gambia), Bissau (Guinea Bissau) and Conakry (Guinea).
"President Abdoulaye Wade wishes that this festival have a truly Panafrican dimension. For this reason we envisaged to be able to organize the ev ents in those countries," declared the minister on in the sideline of the ministerial conference of the Francophonie (CMF).
The festival had suffered two consecutive postponements in the past.
FESMAN is defined as "the aesthetic crossroads of Africa, Europe and black America, whose impact on the world culture is immense".
Well known artistes like Manu Dibango, Césaria Evora, Dany Glover, Youssou NDour are expected to feature in the 2009 event.
------
Last night I attended a Tribute for director Bill Greaves at IFC in the West Village organized by Stranger than Fiction, the weekly series of documentary film screenings.
But it was perhaps the short 12 minute film, “The First World Festival Negro Arts” (the full documentary is 40 minutes), that stayed with me the longest. The festival was held in Dakar, Senegal in December 1965 and January 1966. Greaves was invited to make the official festival film. That film (that’s the first 3 minutes above) includes footage of Duke Ellington (and his band), Langston Hughes (looking at the art exhibit of the festival), Haile Selassie, Leopold Senghor, who organized the event, as well as numerous artists–especially dancing troupes and singers, including the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. Greaves shot the film without sound, then overdubbed it. I loved how Greaves captured the optimism of that early period of African independence so well, the relationship between African-American artists and the newly freed Africans, and joy of the people.
I am definitely looking forward to seeing the full 40 minute documentary.
The weekly Stranger Than Fiction screenings is worth investing time in. The series’ blog also contains some photographs taken at last night’s event.
Incidentally, there is an attempt to revive that festival in Dakar in December 2009.