Zimfest – It Takes a Village

Hello Zimfest folks,

The Zimfest Association Board and I recently made the announcement that the 2016 Zimbabwean Music Festival will be held at Western Oregon University in Monmouth OR, August 11-14, 2016. I am happy to say that the Tech Committee has already started meeting in preparation for the next festival, and we are targeting mid-January for online applications to open on the festival website at https://zimfest.org. There is much to do before that date, and I am actively recruiting team members to work on the Zimfest Organizing Committee. It really does take a village—we are in desperate need of people who can give up some time to make the next Zimfest a great one! Helping out with the annual Zimfest gathering is a great way to give back for all the joy and enrichment you have experienced through this wonderful music.

What You Can Do to Help

If you have the time and commitment, volunteer for the core organizing committee (OC), members of which meet regularly via skype and take responsibility for major areas of the festival. We still need people to work on the following: Teacher and Workshop Scheduling; Concert planning and Performer Liaison; Zimbabwean Guest Coordinator; and Marketplace Coordination. Some jobs take a fair amount of time leading up to and at the festival, but do not require you to meet regularly with the OC: Instrument Procurer and Coordinator; T-shirt production and sales; Registration (non-tech) lead.

If you have small chunks of time, there are many other tasks that you can do before (as well as at) the festival: publicity and marketing; website content proofing and updating; festival guide proofreading; coordinating Portland shuttles and airport pickups/drop-offs.

If you are a group that would like to work on a project together there are several opportunities: work party to put together registration packets; festival decorations; festival signage; festival site cleanup crew.

Please let us know if and how you can help: e-mail: or , or phone me at 206-328-4011.

Happy Turkey Day,

Claire Jones
Zimfest Coordinator

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