AFRICANDO Arts and Culture Festival, a collaboration between the Foundation for Democracy in Africa and Miami-Dade County, is a one-day event that will feature contemporary African, Afro-American, Caribbean & Afro-Latino cultures. MDCC and the Black Heritage Museum will display masks, statues and murals from the Caribbean, South America, Brazil and Cuba. A special "Children's Activities Village" will feature traditional African and Caribbean folk tales, puppet shows, African mask and instrument making, African textile weaving, Miami Metrozoo's exotic animal show and more. The festival, which is the closing event for AFRICANDO 2001, will be promoted in Africa, AFRICANDO organizers say. A trade delegation from Miami and Washington, D.C., will conduct trade seminars promoting the conference and festival in Nigeria, Mali, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania.
Gazing at the amalgam of rich Caribbean artistic expression - bold colors intertwining on canvas, delicately woven wire sculptures, sheer pieces of cloth with intricate handmade designs - one might think she was roaming the corridors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the prestigious Guggenheim rather than viewing the one-bedroom Harlem apartment of Caribbean art dealer Anderson Pilgrim. "One of the reasons that Caribbean art has yet to penetrate the New York scene is that it has yet to be fully explored even among Caribbeans", Pilgrim said. "Because of the colonization of the Caribbean islands, and the stifling post-colonial effects, many native Caribbeans didn't begin to explore their abilities until the 1970s, which was a period of real artistic revolution on the islands". A few of the artists he represented were medal winners at the prestigious Biennial Caribbean Festival, held in the Dominican Republic and featuring artists from the Caribbean and Countries in Central America which border the Caribbean.
Talk to Richard Lue and it becomes clear that not nearly enough Caribbean people are heading `home'. Neither are enough African Americans trying to discover the Caribbean, although their connection with the culture has long been established in the U.S. That's why Lue was appointed Air Jamaica's regional manager for special markets in the southern U.S. Another Air Jamaica representative has been given similar responsibilities for the northern states. "It wasn't neglect," said Lue. "It just wasn't accountability. We've always been there. The problem was internally. We feel we can get more out of that (Caribbean) market." "To me it's no big deal," he said. "The problems in Jamaica are serious, but Jamaica has never been an easy sell. But it is a challenge. It is because of 9/11 that we realized we had to diversify our markets and give importance to all the markets. The challenge is there, but we just have to deliver."