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| By Lori O'Brien Correspondent SPRINGFIELD Area residents are invited to celebrate an afternoon of Somali music, dance, food and handmade crafts as New WORLD Theater (NWT) hosts a Somali Community Festival Nov. 18. The festival is slated from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Panache Banquet Hall, 827 State St. A $5 suggested donation is requested at the door. Proceeds raised from the event will help support the Somali Women's Project through NWT. Through a community based arts process, the Somali Women's Project will create new approaches to self directed economic development. NWT is known as a regional arts leader with a national and international reputation as a visionary cultural institution dedicated to producing and presenting theatrical works by artists of color. NWT is a program of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. During the past five years, more than 100 Somali refugee families have been resettled in the city as well as neighboring communities. Median household income in Springfield is barely half the state average, and unemployment is 25 percent higher than the rest of Western Massachusetts, according to NWT. Women are particularly limited in mobility, educational access and professional choices. Somali women meet weekly for English language training, a craftwork exchange among the women and local artisans, career development workshops and community based performance workshops. Performance workshops are led by three professional artists of color playwright and performance artist Robbie McCauley, dancer and choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu, and artist and musician Terry Jenoure. A multi-year collective process rooted in storytelling, oral history, visual and craft-based arts, song and movement will lead to the creation of a collaborative, multidisciplinary theater production presented by NWT. Future performances will be cultural, aesthetic, educational and promotional events, raising awareness and providing publicity and direct-sales opportunities for women's micro businesses. Award-winning filmmaker Julie Akeret will chronicle the project's activities and create a documentary on the Somali refugee story. Supported in part by the John & Abigail Adams Arts Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Somali Women's Project is a collaboration among several local partner organizations including NWT, the Fund for Women Artists, the International Language Institute, the Center for Popular Economics, and the Massachusetts Career Development Institute. Weekly meetings are hosted by Springfield's Community Music School. For more information on the community festival, call NWT at (413) 545-1972. |