Title:  African Festival Planning Guide                         

Have you thought about bringing your students, parents, and community together in celebration of the history and cultural wealth of the peoples of Africa?  Have you thought that such an event could promote tolerance and racial harmony by increasing the understanding and knowledge of the contributions of Africa to the nations of the world? Have you considered that such an event could result in increased parental involvement and support of your school?  Have you wondered if you could do it, but were unsure and questioned where to begin? 

 The purpose of this Planning Guide is to provide you with a starting point and

framework for developing an African Festival.  Components of the guide include The Vision, Planning, Date/Time/Place, Networking – Making the Connection, Funding, Publicity, Program, Evaluation, and Curriculum Connections.

 The Vision: someone must think the African Festival is a worthwhile and educationally sound learning experience for students and the community.  Someone must think, “Let’s do this.”  Someone must have the initiative to make a start.  The Festival could involve one teacher in one classroom, a team or a grade level of teachers, or a building of teachers involved in the Festival as a trans-curricular/grade level integrated project.  In most cases, the Festival will start with a core of teachers and grow as others join the project over time.  Perhaps your school is organized around yearly themes such as Celebrating Cultural Heritage.  The African Festival could be incorporated into such a theme OR become the focus for the year.  Be that ‘someone’ with a vision of what the Festival could be in your school and what it could mean to your students and community.

 Planning:  establish a planning committee with a chairperson responsible for the overall organization of the Festival. The complexity of the committee will depend upon how many teachers/grade levels/subject areas have elected to participate.

Hold regular meetings with a written agenda.   However, to save time and facilitate impromptu committee meetings, establish e-mail folders where  ‘reply to all’ will allow all committee members to receive replies and communicate without the constraints of place and time.  The planning committee will be responsible for clearly articulating the purpose/goals of the Festival, establishing a timeline (who does what by when), securing funding, overall organization, publicity, and evaluation of the Festival.

 Date/Time/Place: if the Festival were to be an event rather than part of an on-going theme, then February, Black History Month, would be a logical first choice for many schools.  However, there are other considerations that may be unique to your community.  For example, your school/community may hold a celebration of the life of a significant local African-American and want to link the Festival to the celebration.  Perhaps an historical event took place in your community that would influence the date of your Festival.   The time of the Festival should be convenient for parents as well as teachers.  Since one of the goals of the Festival is to increase parental involvement and support of education, the time (afternoon/evening) should be set keeping in mind the socio-economic profile of your parent population.

 Networking – Making the Connection: your PTO is an excellent source of funding and community contacts. Perhaps your PTO holds an annual fund-raiser.  The proceeds could be dedicated to the Festival.  Perhaps your PTO has funded an Artist-In-Residency program.  That program could be incorporated into your Festival by selecting an African artist to work with your students.  African art, textile art, and music are themes that would provide cultural enrichment, be curricular based, and cross grade levels in content.  Community links could be made to your local African-American arts and/or community centers, area businesses, and local colleges that may have experts in these areas who would be available to come into classrooms.   Your PTO could also network into the community to publicize the Festival and promote parental participation. 

 Funding:  what is your vision of the Festival?  How much money will it cost?  How much money do you have?  What are your funding sources?   Consider your PTO, a class fund-raiser, advertisement space in your Festival program, contributions by school clubs, possible character education mini-grant or other cultural awareness grant funding, or from your district’s general fund.  The timing of when plans for the Festival start and date of Festival will limit your funding options.  There may not be time to explore grants or secure money through your district’s budget.  Seek out what you can do – not what you can not do.

 Publicity: decide whether the Festival will be for the parents and students in your school or all segments of the community.  Then plan your publicity campaign.  Use your school newsletter, website, and TV or radio station to publicize your Festival. Send informative letters to parents. Send letters to key community and government leaders.  Contact your local community newspaper to include a press release.   Select a member of the student newspaper or member of the publicity committee to take pictures (digital or traditional) during the Festival.  These pictures could become the basis for promoting the next Festival as well as providing a further assessment tool for evaluating the Festival.  

 Program:  prepare an attractive, easily read concise program of events to distribute at the Festival.  The program should indicate what will take place when, where, and who is the key teacher(s) at each exhibit.  Additional information might include sponsors of the Festival, educational resources (books, websites), purpose or history of the Festival, a ‘scrapbook’ page featuring students preparing for the Festival.   (Consult your district’s policy on the use of student photos.)  It is suggested that student ushers distribute the programs. 

 Evaluation/Assessment: energy, time, and resources will go into the African Festival.  Was it worth the effort?  Where your objectives met?  What was the perception of parents?  It is suggested that an evaluation or assessment be conducted at the Festival, such as a simple opinion poll. Teachers, parents, and, yes, even students could respond to a checklist of questions to provide valuable data and insights for future events. The surveys could be placed at each exhibit urging people to complete them at the end of the Festival.  Or, members of the planning committee could randomly select people to complete the survey toward the end of the event.  The surveys could also be included in the programs with the request that they be filled out and deposited in designated areas at the conclusion of the Festival. 

 Curriculum Connections (Think About the Possibilities): the following is a partial listing of suggestions for exhibits and events for an African Festival.  Brainstorm ideas with your planning committee.  Recruit other teachers – provide them with suggestions linked to their instructional areas that correlate to their subject area standards.  

 v     Countries of Africa: exhibit profiling each country or area of Africa.  Students would research the country and prepare a display that includes a map, significant contributions/people from the country, economic profile, language, and key historical events. A comparative religion component could be added at the secondary level (Global Studies or social studies elective).  Students might also make a model or diorama depicting some ecological, historical, or geological formation associated with their country (for example – a model of Mt. Kilimanjaro or diorama of the Ngorongoro Crater).  Integrate art (model or diorama, map), math (economic profile – conversion of currency, gross national profit, major industries – import/export), language arts (note-taking, outlining, presenting information) with social studies (geography, history, comparative religion).  

v     Folklore of Africa: study the folklore from the various regions of Africa.  Draw a large map of Africa and connect the folklore to the country (colorful visual).  Select students to read samples of folktales. (Students will gain confidence in public speaking)  Contact your school library teacher for suggestions a folktales and also effective techniques for storytelling.  Construct a literature tree from a large piece of cardboard or other material.  Each leaf of the tree could be a poem the students have written about a character from a folktale; the author, title, and summary of a folktale; or examples of different themes of folklore (creation, trickster, moral or lesson in life, survival, etc)

v     Foods from Africa – Café Africa: prepare regional dishes to serve at the Festival.  Research the various regions of Africa and dishes unique to that area.  Prepare recipe cards for distribution at the Festival that include country of origin and history/role of the food in the diet of the country.  This Home and Careers exhibit will integrate research skills with math (converting recipes) and food preparation skills.

v     Traditional Cloth of Africa: cloth and design play a significant role in the culture of African countries.  In some countries only certain individuals may wear brightly designed cloth.   In other countries, a particular kind of cloth is made.  Students research the history, traditions, and manufacture of cloth (such as Adinkra and mud cloth).  Integrate this Home and Careers unit with art where students create their own designs based on traditional motifs.  Students may make 12” squares (for pillows) or larger pieces for headpieces or other clothing items.

v     Games the Children Play: students will sharpen their research skills identifying traditional African games.  Have students create their version of these games and demonstrate the games at the Festival.  Students will discover that some of the games they play are very similar to games children play in Africa.  Promote cultural awareness and acceptance.

v     Music and Dance: very important in the history and culture of Africa.  Students will investigate different music traditions and how they influence music today.  Dance is the physical expression of the music.  Students learn the religious and social implications of dance.  Contact local dance studios to demonstrate traditional rhythms and movements.  Choreograph a dance presentation for the Festival.  

v     The Arts in Africa: the creative process and the role of the craftsman are investigated.  Students could create masks based on traditional African masks, carve in the tradition of the village craftsman, or work in metal creating jewelry or other cultural objects.

v     Animals of Africa: explore the environmental issues surrounding endangered and threatened animals of Africa.  Students study the animals of Africa, their status, why they may be endangered, and what is being done to protect them.

Another component of the Festival could depict the African Diaspora and the African-American Experience.  Curriculum areas would include NYS 7^th and 8^th grade social studies (American history to the present); literature of the colonial and Civil War periods; technology (inventors and inventions); global history and economics; contemporary music, art, literature.

For further information, suggestions, and encouragement contact: moorer@schenectady.k12.ny.us

Prepared by: Rita Moore, Project VIEW Team Leader