The Pan Afrikan Festival, a week-long celebration organized by the Black Students Board, is on its fifth day after hosting both an appreciation banquet and the DanceVisions Spring Concert last night.
“The festival is in its 35th year,” said chair of the board, Deandra Duggans, a senior in parks, recreation and tourism management and business management. The goals of the festival, she said, are “to educate, celebrate and embrace African-American culture.”
The BSB is trying to expand the festival to include the community.
“We want to bring in African-American students and all other members of the community,” Duggans said. “We want to extend [the festival] to other schools and to the community, but first to our constituents. This yearÕs theme, DIASPORA, was voted on by students in the general body of the Black Students Board.”
DIASPORA stands for, “Deep In Afrika Spring People Of Royal Ancestry.”
The festival began Sunday, April 2, and will continue hosting events this week until April 9. Last nightÕs banquet was in appreciation of the black faculty and staff on campus, and the event was a new addition to the traditional events of the week.
“We felt it was a good way to celebrate their contributions,” said Tremaine Brittian, the adviser of the BSB.
Duggans, attributing part of the success of the festival to help from black staff and faculty on campus, said, “Everyone looks forward to the festival; everyone wants a hand in making it happen.”
“Tonight’s event is just to say ‘thank you’ to all the African-American faculty and staff on campus,” Duggans said.
According to Brittian, the event was a success.
“We’ve had good turnout, great support,” Brittian said.
Brittian said that they expect to have an even greater turnout this weekend.
“The big draw will be the step show and the Blackout,” said Duggans. “The Blackout is basically a big cookout; it’s a huge mass of people having a good time.”
The Step-Off will take place Friday at 7 p.m. in Stewart Theatre, and the Blackout will be Saturday from 1-5 p.m.
The festival has already hosted a lecture by Jeffrey Johnson and the “You Think You Know But You Have No Idea” art exhibit Monday. It has also presented performances by the Young Black Entrepreneurs on campus and health information promotion in the Brickyard Tuesday.
Teia Robinson, a sophomore in business and marketing education, emphasized that the festival was about teaching as well as entertaining.
“I went to the speaker Monday night, and he made some of the strongest points,” she said. “That was important to me, because he talked about pertinent information on campus that the community should learn about.”
Duggans said that the BSB had some difficulty publicizing the event this year, having to compete with elections campaigns for attention, but that the overall publicity has been great. She added that next year they hoped to start sooner, and that they “want more feedback on what students want.”
Overall, Brittian and Duggans agreed that the festival has been a great success so far, especially in achieving its goal to “entertain, educate, and celebrate African-American culture.”
“The goal is for the University as a whole to be able to see Pan-Afrikan on campus,” said Brittain. “We want them to see it as a positive event to unify African Americans.”
