Come Celebrate The Richness Of African And African Diasporic Art Forms Featured In Vibrant Performances, Classes, And Workshops, All For Free

Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn-based Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation, a nonprofit organization which has been offering youth ages 3-18 an opportunity to learn, study and experience the history, movement and beauty of African Diaspora dance, music and culture at its highest level for over 20 years, is proud to present its eighth annual ART IS ALIVE festival, on Saturday, September 21, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and is free to the public.

ART IS ALIVE will feature a multitude of performances, workshops, and classes featuring art forms and artists from the African Diasporic experience. This year’s event is presented by Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Entertainment Production, including Executive Producer Kofi Osei Williams, and Producer N’dack Fleming, with sponsorship support provided by TD Bank.

“We’re thrilled to be presenting our eighth annual ART IS ALIVE festival, free to the Brooklyn community. Every year we present the richness of African and African Diasporic multi-disciplinary art forms including vibrant performances, engaging classes, and educational and insightful workshops,” said Kofi Osei Williams, Asase Yaa’s Executive Director and Executive Producer of ART IS ALIVE. “Most importantly, this is a family festival, and there’s something for everyone to enjoy.”

The full day of activities for the ART IS ALIVE experience are as follows:

Classes: 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (45 minutes) • Afrobeat, Caribbean, and Hip Hop dance classes hosted by Asase Yaa School of the Arts

Workshop: 1:00 p.m. (one hour) • Resources for Raising a Child Artist Workshop hosted by Asase Yaa in partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Live Performances: 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. • Asase Yaa Youth Ensemble features various dance forms that include tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop, modern, and African, as well as drumming Indigenous African and Afro-beat drum styles. • Batalá New York is the premier all-women, black-led, percussion ensemble, whose music and costumes are primarily from Salvador da Bahia in Brazil. • FIYAA Forces of Nature Incredible Youth Arts Alliance is a new youth dance company created by Abdel R. Salaam, executive artistic director/choreographer and co-founder of the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. • Plezi Rara is a Brooklyn-based Haitian band dedicated to mastering the craft of "rara" an indigenous genre of Haitian festival music that is used for street processions. • Soul Science Lab is a music and multimedia duo powered by emcee, songwriter Chen Lo and composer, producer Asante Amin. They're innovative griots that infuse hip hop, jazz, R&B, and Afro-beat music in their artistry.

ART IS ALIVE will take place on Saturday, September 21, 2024, at The Space at Irondale (85 South Oxford St, Brooklyn, NY 11217) from 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and is free to the public.

ABOUT ASASE YAA CULTURAL ARTS FOUNDATION

Asase Yaa (“Mother Earth”) Cultural Arts Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to fulfilling its core tenets to Enrich, Educate, Entertain, and promote the importance of cultural performing arts to youth and adults in their community.

What began as the vision of brothers Kofi Osei Williams and Yao Ababio to start African dance and drumming workshops in the `90s, has grown into a thriving School of the Arts, for youth ages 3-18, an annual six weeks Children’s Summer Arts Camp, an Arts Outreach Program that serves many public and charter schools throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, and Queens, an internationally renowned and award-winning professional dance ensemble, Asase Yaa African-American Dance Theater, and a Youth Ensemble that features African dancers and drummers who perform throughout the greater New York metropolitan area.

Asase Yaa aspires to empower and strengthen youth by offering them an opportunity to learn, study and experience the history, movement and beauty of African Diasporic dance, music, and culture at its highest level. Their programs are designed to ensure that youth understand the roots and value of culture in the arts, which they hope will inspire and propel them to become strong leaders capable of preserving and elevating their culture and communities in the future.

For more information, visit www.asaseyaaent.org.

85 South Oxford Street Map
646-468-0710