The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, founded in 1970 to celebrate the creativity and spirituality of black culture and today one of New England’s premiere college choirs, hosts the 13th Annual Dr. Walter J. Leonard Black Arts Festival (BAF). The festival will take place from Thursday, March 3 to Saturday, March 5, 2011. The three-day celebration features various workshops, performances, and displays of artwork, graphic media, film, dance, spokenword, music, acting, and screenwriting highlighting the creative contributions of talented and distinguished artists, paying tribute to the African Diaspora.

This year’s theme is How it Feels to be Colored Me. This theme is taken from an essay of the same name written by Zora Neale Hurston. This essay explores what it means to not only be black but to also be "colored." This word has been difficult for the black community throughout the history of its use because it contributes to the "otherization," if you will, of blackness. This word implies an action that is done to someone, which brings up these questions: Who is coloring us? Do we color ourselves? Are we only colored when non-colored people are present? Is it powerful to appropriate this word or should we dismiss it?

Our hope for BAF this year is that we will bring together a community of artists who are grappling with this idea of colorization and responding to it through art, music, dance, etc. In fitting with Kuumba’s mission, to leave a space better than it was found, it is the hope of the 2011 Black Arts Festival Committee that this year’s attendees will feel enlightened, entertained, and inspired by our program of events. We hope you will join us March 3-5 for what promises to be a truly wonderful, celebratory experience. For a complete schedule of events, please see events.

With peace,
Hannah Joy Habte
Chair of the 2011 Black Arts Festival