Kwanzaa Expo December 20th in East St. Louis, Illinois:
Kwanzaa Expo December 20th in East St. Louis, Illinois:
Cultural Arts, Vendors, Poetry, Motivational Speeches
Come celebrate our History, Cultural Heritage, Artistic Expression and Survival-thru-Centuries-Long Struggle (with Style) at the Kwanzaa Expo: Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 7:00 pm, Sunshine Cultural Arts Center, 630 North 59th Street, East St. Louis, Illinois 62203 (old Morrison School; enter from rear).
The free and richly endowed “familistic” program will include: The Kwansaba Candle-Lighting Ritual with poets Roscoe “Ros” Crenshaw, Salim Kenyatta, Tiffany Lee, Charlois Lumpkin (Mali Newman), Darlene Roy, Jaye Willis and Eugene B. Redmond; Valarie Adams (Katherine Dunham trained actress/dancer); Malik & DeBorah Ahmed (of St. Louis' Better Family Life); songbird Zelphia Robinson-Otis; Sunshine's ESL Community Performance Ensemble (now in its 38th year); poet MK Stallings (founder/director of STL's UrbArts); Dr. Amber Howlett ( SCAC board member); Vernon Younge (offering a “songified” medley); and Marla Byrd (on behalf of the ESL 1917 [Race] Riot Centennial Commission and Cultural Initiative [http://www.estl1917ccci.org/]).
Admission is free. Vendors are welcome (call for fee). Sponsors are SCAC, CCCI, the ESL Cultural Renaissance Revival Committee, Black River Writers Press, SIUE English Department and the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club which is celebrating its 30th birthday. For information, call 618 650-3991, write EBRWC at P.O. Box 6165, ESL, IL 62201, or email eredmon@siue.edu.
