Council Endorses African-American Cultural Festival For Raleigh
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously today to support having an African-American cultural festival in the Capital City and allocated $75,000 toward the event. The first festival is proposed to be held for three days next September.
Council members voted to allocate the $75,000 after hearing a report from the African American Cultural Festival (AACF) Governing Board and Artsplosure. The two groups have been working together the last six months to plan an African-American cultural festival in Raleigh. Their report said an initial budget of $461,713 is needed for the festival. Wake County also is being asked to contribute $75,000. The rest of the needed funds would come from various sources, including corporate sponsors. Festival planners said a future goal would be to make the event self sufficient in which no City or County funds would be needed.
The report presented to the City Council said an African-American cultural festival in Raleigh would provide “a unique opportunity for thousands of people, especially school-aged children, to experience some outstanding art and cultural programs.” In addition, the festival would attract visitors beyond the Triangle region, generating a “significant economic impact” for the city, according to the report.
The City of Raleigh provided a $25,932 grant to the AACF Governing Board to work with Artsplosure on developing a programming, organizational and financial plan for a local festival. The following are accomplishments of this initiative, according to the report given to the City Council:
Developed job descriptions, conducted searches and filled two essential AACF professional positions;
Actively engaged AACF Governing Board members in the planning and organizational process. It is being recommended that the AACF Governing Board expand and diversify its membership to include more area business leaders and arts professionals;
Gathered and processed input from hundreds of potential participants and audience members;
Conducted comparative research on successful African-American art and heritage festivals in other cities;
Identified and engaged potential partners, collaborators and other stakeholders; and,
Developed essential resource materials, including program prospectus and template with a proposed festival schedule and a roster of potential artists and performers; fundraising and marketing materials; and “achievable” administrative and presenting budgets.
Because they are in the process of seeking funding commitments to hold an African-American cultural festival, planners have not started contract negotiations with potential artists and performers, the report said. They also have not entered into a lease agreement with the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts to host the festival next year on the proposed dates of Sept. 3-5.
Prepared by:
John Boyette
Public Affairs Specialist
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Michael Lowder
Executive Director, Artplosure
PO Box 391
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-832-8699
