Dear Zimfest community,
We are saddened and disappointed to announce that Innocent Musafare Mutero has been denied his visa in South Africa and will be unable to join us for Zimfest 2023. The Teachers and Workshops Team is working flat out to find teachers to take over his workshops and we will let you know when we confirm the revisions to the workshop schedule.
Some festival tips:
- The weather forecast for Corvallis next weekend is above 90 degrees F. for the duration of the festival! Bring fans for your rooms and stay hydrated! We are no longer providing water to concert performers (trying to avoid plastic water bottles), so bring your own water containers. To help you out, we will be selling iced fizzy water, probably La Croix, at the Zimfest booth during marketplace hours.
- Sales for Zimfest tees and this year’s special product, lightweight hoodies, at this year’s Zimfest Booth will again be cash and check only – no added fees! – as we evaluate cashless payment options for future. Bring your cash! If you forget, there are ATMs nearby, in McNary Dining Center as well as the Memorial Union, site of several Zimfest workshop rooms.
- We are getting attention in Corvallis newspapers, noting the the return of Zimfest to OSU! Enjoy this online version of a story in the Gazette-Times.
Stay cool!
At the 1997 Zimfest in Victoria the concert performers were provided with platters of fruit backstage–juicy things like watermelon and oranges–as a substitute for water. It worked great–something to think about for this year?
Every year Zimfest has a Green Room for evening concert performers to relax before and after performances, and snack on treats and drinks set out by the Green Room Queen. This year the Green Room/Tent is a large canopy adjacent to the outdoor stage in the lower campus/ McNary Field area, and Elisha Bobrosky is your Green Room Queen.
Message from Amy Stewart: You may have heard that a terrible accident occurred last night.
The extended Mafuleni family was coming from a funeral in Rusape outside Harare when their kombi hit oncoming traffic. Martha, Jacob’s older brother, and Jacob’s mother died instantly, as well as another grandmother from next-door.
Several other sisters are critical condition. As far as we know, Jacob and Abel were not with the funeral party.
Blessing and I are planning a fundraising concert in Boulder for funeral expenses this Monday at 7 PM.
This is devastating news, and my heart goes out to Jacob and Abel and the extended Mafuleni family. On behalf of the entire Zimfest family, we send our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. Nematambudziko.