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Zimfest News Blog

Posts Tagged "cultural presentations"

Zimfest Online News

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,
As disappointed as we are not to be able to physically gather this summer, the Zimfest Board and OC want you to know we are working on ways to virtually engage with you all.

  • Go to the Kutandara (Boulder, CO) website to learn about their many online activities. Randy and Amy have instituted the #KutandaraPlaysMarimba project offering free song-of-the-month marimba lessons on YouTube to get everyone playing “together.”
  • The Zimfest Organizing Committee will be offering the Cultural Presentations that the festival is known for on an online basis. Stay tuned!
  • Calling for a Digital Media Curator for Zimfest. We have a need for a digitally-minded volunteer to help us out as we work on putting more music and media online. This individual(s) would lead the way for Zimfest in the sourcing, collection, adjustment, inventory, and presentation of media types including audio, video, and photos.
  • Our call for designs for Zimfest this year has resulted in an updated logo – see below! Thanks to Penny Martindale for her creative eye!

Music Dancing Across Borders

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Applications and Updates

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,

A few updates from our hard-working Zimfest organizers:

  • The Organizing Committee is eagerly awaiting applications from performers and teachers before the Feb 29 deadline! We need workshops in all categories to allow for a complete menu of offerings beyond marimba and mbira at Zimfest 2020: dance, singing, drumming, hosho, guitar and other instruments, as well as cultural presentations on various topics.
  • See this page for details on workshops. Marimba teachers, please keep in mind that we can accept a few workshops of 2.5 hours as requested by intermediate and advanced students.  Teachers of dance and hosho are advised that workshops of 1.5 hours work well for many students.
  • The Zimfest Association Board of Directors welcomes new board member Drew Turner! Drew was introduced to Zimbabwean-style marimba in Homer, AK and now lives near Ashland, OR. He has also joined the OC as an intern with the Volunteer Coordinators – great to have you, Drew!
  • The ZA Board wishes to call your attention to changes in membership categories and fees. Recognizing that many older members of our community are on fixed incomes, the Board has added a new category of membership for seniors 65 years and older, at just $10 a year (more if you can afford it).  In addition, the Teacher membership fee, covering a teacher or youth leader plus up to 20 members of their student group, has increased to $100 per year. See the membership page for details and to sign up. 

Stay well – musare zvakanaka!

Zimfest Organizing Committee
Zimfest Association Board
Festival Coordinator Claire Jones

Zimfest: Music Dancing Across Borders

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Performer and Teacher Applications Open Jan 2

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Happy New Year Zimfesters!

Performer, Teacher and Workshop Applications for Zimfest 2020 in Olympia, WA are now open and will close February 29.

Click here for performer information and here for the performer application.
Click here for teacher information and here for the teacher application. Once you have submitted a teacher application, you will be sent a link to propose one or more workshops.

Things to keep in mind:

  • The Sunday evening concert will again be free (donations requested) so that Zimbabweans and others holding visitor visas can perform on the evening stage.
  • Individuals who are accepted as teachers will be asked to complete a background check if they did not teach at Zimfest last year.
  • Workshop proposals we love to see: theoretical topics (e.g. African rhythms, song structure and improvisation) in addition to teaching songs; cultural presentations of all sorts.
  • Workshop times: participant feedback indicates hosho and dance workshops of 90 minutes work well. Many intermediate marimba students have requested longer workshops, and we can schedule a few for 2  1/2 hours. See detailed Workshop Proposal information here (scroll down the page).
  • The Zimfest Organizing Committee is still looking for artwork designs to be used for Zimfest 2020 publicity, tee shirts and more. See the call for submissions in a previous blog post and/or write to the OC at oc{at}zimfest{dot}org.

Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator
Zimfest 2020: Music Dancing Across Borders

 

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Zimfest News

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Greetings all,

The Zimfest 2019 Organizing and Tech committees have some festival updates for you:

  • The Festival Concert Schedule has been posted online. See biographies and photographs of performers here (check back later for information not yet available on a couple of groups).
  • Our host Western Oregon University has informed us that there will be mini-fridges and microwave ovens in all Ackerman dorm rooms! To ensure that this privilege is extended beyond 2019, be sure to dispose of all food and other waste properly, and please clean out fridges when you leave. 
  • There are a number of fascinating and informative cultural presentations on offer this year, and our webmaster Larry has created this Presentations page with all the relevant information.  The cultural presentations cost only $10 per hour – a great deal!
  • Don’t forget to sign up for volunteer shifts to help the festival run smoothly. Write to our volunteer coordinators at volunteers{at}zimfest{dot}org if you can take on any special assignments (e.g. host the Green Room on Sunday, or help wrangle marimbas on Thursday).

Your Zimfest Organizers

Music Dancing Across Borders

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What’s New at Zimfest 2019

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Zimfest organizers and participants have been quiet since registration went live on May 1. Take a look at What’s New this year and kick up the interest level! Make your plans and register now for some of the new offerings for Zimfest 2019:

  • Come learn about a different type of Zimbabwean culture: Alternative Agri-cultures in Zimbabwe. This special workshop presentation/exhibit/discussion led by musician and scholar Pamela Ngwenya is produced by Zimfest 2019 as a multi-session workshop on Saturday afternoon August 10 at discounted presentation costs (by donation); we need your registrations for either or both sessions to make it happen! Those who are motivated to give back to Zimbabwe will want to attend to learn about projects being carried out in areas impacted by Cyclone Idai and how to support them.
  • Gumboot Flash Mob – Festival Highlights Finale on Sunday, Aug 11, 4:40 – 5:00 p.m. at The Grove. Student groups from two gumboot workshops will show off what they have learned, and Lucky Moyo and Sinini Ngwenya will invite everyone at the Grove to join in with some awesome body percussion! Let’s get everyone dancing – gum boots not required! For more information, see Festival Events.
  • Some people have been confused between the skill level terms “beginner” and “novice” (introduced last year). We encourage you to look at it this way: Beginners are still the lowest skill level, ranging from those just starting out to one year of experience. We promise we’ll never change that! Novice, the next skill level beyond beginning, is the new term that replaced the old “advanced-beginner” level (which was confusing to people new to this community).

Enjoy the long weekend and remember our veterans!
Claire and the 2019 Organizing Committee

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Zimfest Updates and Requests

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival Details

Hello Zimfest community,

The countdown continues: 17 days until we meet again in Monmouth! As you probably know, registration for Zimfest housing and dining has closed. Signup for workshops and volunteering will close on midnight August 1. At that time the Organizing Committee will put the final touches on plans and programming for Zimfest 2018 at Western Oregon University August 9-12.

  • We will be cancelling low-enrollment workshops (those with 0, 1 or 2 students) on July 26, so if there is something you have your eye on, be sure to sign up before then or it may disappear from the schedule! Did you know that Cultural Presentation workshops are only $10 per hour? We would hate to have to cancel any of these educational sessions, so please peruse what is available on the Cultural Presentations page and sign up to deepen your knowledge of Zimbabwean culture.
  • Mbira instruments needed for mbira workshops: if you have signed up for an mbira workshop, some instruments will be provided in the tuning called for in the workshop description. If you own or can borrow an instrument, do bring it to the workshop. Further, if you can lend mbira instruments in the following tunings, please bring them to the Registration desk, and we promise we’ll take good care of them: nyunga nyunga; mbira dzavadzimu/nhare – Magaya standard tuning, also G tuning.
  • Hosho are supplied for hosho workshops thanks to Craig LaFollette of Marimbaworks, but if you have a favorite pair of your own, bring them!
  • Mary Shales’s Gofundme campaign to raise money for a plane ticket for Patience Musandirire did well for the first few days, and Zimfest was able to advance the money to buy him a plane ticket! However, the campaign has stalled at $945, of which Gofundme will keep a high percentage. If the campaign reaches $1500, Patience will not need to sacrifice his workshop earnings to help pay for the ticket. If you wish to donate, this is the direct link is gf.me/u/jtysvt. Tatenda, Siyabonga!

Festival Coordinator Claire Jones
The Zimfest 2018 Organizing Committee

More important now than ever:

Music Dancing Across Borders

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Workshop Proposals for Zimfest 2014 in Tacoma, Washington

Posted on by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Zimfest teacher and performer applications opened January 15th. We are waiting for your applications! In the surveys filled out at Zimfest 2013, some of you said you wanted a wider variety of workshops on cultural topics. If you are a teacher, we want to hear your ideas! Go to http://2014.zimfest.org/applications/

If you are a student of Zimbabwean music, would you attend a workshop to learn Shona or Ndebele and discuss the culture behind the music? How about a panel discussion on preserving intangible culture of which music and language is a major part?

Let us know!

—Zimfest 2014 Organizing Committee

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