Zimfest News Blog

Posts Tagged "workshops"

Calling All Drums

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival Details

Greetings Zimfest community,
A few quick messages from your Zimfest 2018 organizing committee:

As always, we are in need of hand drums – Zimbabwean style ngoma, congas or similar ones – for our drumming classes. Please let us know whether you can lend one or more by writing teachers{at}zimfest{dot}org or just bring them to the Registration desk Thursday Aug. 9 at the festival. We promise to take good care of them for the weekend!
For several years we have been racking our brains over how to organize the seating in the concert hall to provide both a dancing space and a sitting space with a view of the performers. It has been difficult during prior festivals for those who want to sit during the performances to actually see them, and we want to do better about this. Please spend a few minutes thinking about the problem and respond to this post with any creative ideas: write 2018{at}zimfest{dot}org.
Did you know Zimfest is run mostly by volunteers? Yes! It’s folks like you and me, lovers of Zimbabwean music, who share the experience of both ‘working’ the festival and ‘attending’! How can you help? Sign up NOW at the Volunteer Signup page to help with festival tasks!

Tatenda! Thank you!
Zimfest 2018 OC

Music Dancing Across Borders

Posted In: Festival Details

Tagged With: concerts, volunteering, workshops

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Festival Reminders

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival Details

Hello Zimfest Folks,

Happy Father’s Day! We still have another month to go before registration for Zimfest housing and meals closes on July 20th. While meals may be purchased in person by commuters, there is no guarantee that there will be any dorm rooms available to rent onsite, so be sure to sign up before the deadline. I can see that there are few camping/RV sites left, and once they are gone, no more can be made available. For those who are hoping for single rooms designated as ‘quiet’ in Ackerman Hall, we will be adding some 4th floor rooms to the registration menu very soon.
Some miscellaneous reminders:

- To Teachers and Performers: the Organizing Committee reports that only one third of you have signed and returned your contracts or agreements. Please people, the new electronic contract is so convenient and easy, you can complete it on your smart phone! We need one of these signed by everyone who is teaching or performing before the festival. If you didn’t receive or cannot find your official acceptance email with the link to the contract/agreement, please write to teachers(at)zimfest(dot)org or performers(at)zimfest(dot)org as appropriate and ask for a replacement email to be sent.
- Are any of you associated with non-profit organizations or for-profit businesses who would like to advertise in the 2018 Festival Guide? If so, please write to chatbetty(at)gmail(dot)com for information. Our prices are very reasonable – you can immortalize your business by placing an ad in the guide! Ads must be submitted to us by July 4.
- Speaking of deadlines, Marketplace Vendor applications close July 16th. We would love to hear from you, vendors. Go to the Vendor Information and Application page to apply.

Enjoy the summer weather!

Best regards,
Claire and the 2018 Zimfest OC

Music Dancing Across Borders

Posted In: Festival Details

Tagged With: concerts, marketplace vendors, workshops

1 Comment

Zimfest 2018 Registration Is Open May 3

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest community,
We are pleased to announce the launch of Zimfest 2018 online registration today, May 3 at 5:00 a.m.! Go to the How to Register page on our website for links to all Festival offerings, tips on negotiating our new registration system, and the button for New Registrations (see “Register using RegFox”). More advanced topics including registering multiple people and making changes to your registration are also addressed on this page.

Further information about Zimfest 2018 programming will emerge in the weeks to come, but we’d like to point out one of the strengths of this year’s workshop schedule right now: the large number of workshops that integrate marimba with singing, dancing, drumming and/or hosho. These sessions, offered by Zimfest teachers in response to our Call for Applications, bring home to students the reality of musical practice in Zimbabwe, the fact that music and dance are rarely separate activities. Teachers, get your students dancing and singing along with marimba from middle school onward, just like Zimbabweans! To be fair to all registrants, we are asking leaders of student groups to not register members of their groups for more than half the maximum enrollment of any specific workshop. Thus, if a marimba workshop has a maximum enrollment of 8, no one group should register for more than 4 of the spots.

Heads-up: you will find the following features of the 2018 registration system different from previous years:

We are charging room rental by the room, not by the person, and the first person to register will be charged the entire rental amount for the number of days the room is to be occupied (the other person is “the roommate”). Please be aware that you will not be able to choose specific rooms as in past years. See On-Campus Housing for details.
WOU is requiring that all participants rooming in the dorms for one or more nights purchase one of three meal cards. Requirements and plans are described in detail on the On-Campus Dining.
Registration is to be paid with credit cards (not PayPal) this year. You will need to pay in full at the time of registration; you cannot hold rooms or places in workshops without paying for them.

See you in Monmouth, August 9-12!
Claire Jones, Zimfest Coordinator

Zimfest 2018 – Music Dancing Across Borders

Posted In: Festival News

Tagged With: workshops, Zimbabwean music and culture, Zimfest registration

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Zimfest 2018 Delay of Registration

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Hello Zimfest community,

The Zimfest 2018 Organizing Committee and Tech Team will not be going live with online registration today, our target date of May 1. We have discovered some issues with our new registration software and want to make sure we can work around them to make the registration process go as smoothly as possible. Look for another message later this week (possibly as early as tomorrow!) that registration is open.

The good news is that we are pleased to have completed most Zimfest 2018 content and supporting information and published it on the website. You are welcome now to browse through the Workshop List, acquaint yourself with the 2018 teachers, and/or explore the 2018 festival website for information about the schedule and housing and dining options. The 2018 homepage is a good place to start your explorations.

- - Don’t forget that the Registration Fee (now $15) is waived for Zimfest Association members. Become a ZA member now or renew your membership before you register for Zimfest 2018. An individual membership costs $25; there are special rates for couples and families, and a teacher membership for leaders of student groups.
  - Announcing festival events on the website: We are excited this year to present a panel discussion on the topic of Cultural Appropriation. This will take place Saturday morning August 11 from 9:30 to 11:30 when no workshops or concerts will be happening. All Zimfest participants are invited to attend.
  - Browse the volunteer tasks to decide how you’d like to contribute at the festival, or claim your shift(s) now on the Volunteer Signup page.
  - Reminder: Vendor applications are open on the website. We look forward to a varied and exciting African Marketplace this year!

Look for more news very soon,

Your Zimfest 2018 Organizing Committee &
The Fabulous Zimfest Tech Team

Zimfest 2018 – Music Dancing Across Borders

Posted In: Festival News

Tagged With: marketplace vendors, membership, volunteers, workshops, Zimfest 2018, Zimfest organizing committee

5 Comments

Zimfest Applications are Open

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival News

Dear Zimfest Community,

Online applications are now open for the 2018 Zimbabwean Music Festival. To apply to teach or perform at this year’s festival, follow links on the Zimfest 2018 home page or go directly to the Teacher Application Information and/or Performer Application Information pages. The ZA Tech committee has done a great job finding appropriate software and formatting the applications so that they are very user friendly. You should find that it is just as easy to fill out the applications using a smart phone as it is on a computer. Unlike previous years, you will not need a Google account to log in.

Each year we seek to offer a balance of workshops, including singing, dancing, drumming, marimba, several types of mbira and a variety of cultural presentations. In response to desires expressed by Zimfest participants for marimba workshops in which students improvise on commonly-known songs, we are encouraging teachers to propose workshops in the form of curated jam sessions; these are best offered at intermediate and advanced levels. We would also love to see workshops (especially from Zimbabwean instructors!) that integrate and relate marimba to singing, dancing, drumming and/or hosho, to bring home to American students the awareness that these music and dance activities are rarely separate in Zimbabwe. Send us your ideas, whether stand-alone or linked workshops, and we’ll see what we can schedule!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Zimfest 2018, August 9-12 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR. Please remember that the festival needs your volunteer help! If you are interested in volunteering, please write

Happy New Year from the 2018 Organizing Committee!
Best regards, Claire Jones
Zimfest Coordinator

Music Dancing Across Borders

Posted In: Festival News

Tagged With: workshops, Zimfest 2018, Zimfest applications

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Drums and Mbira Needed for Zimfest Workshops

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival Details

Hi all,

Zimfest needs loaner drums and mavembe/gandanga mbira for workshops.

If you have either a conga/djembe drum, or a mavembe/gandanga mbira that you are willing to loan, please bring it to the registration desk Thursday or Friday morning. We will check it in, label it with your name, and treat it as if it were our own.

Thanks!
Zimfest 2016 Organizing Committee

Posted In: Festival Details

Tagged With: workshops, Zimfest organizing committee

7 Comments

Zimfest Tips

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Claire Jones Posted in Festival Details

Greetings Zimfest Participants,

There are now six days remaining before Zimfest 2016 launches! We have a few tips and reminders for Zimfest participants, whether you are new to the festival or an old hand:

The weather forecast for Monmouth OR is for continued sunny and warm weather, likely to be in the 80s during the festival. Be sure to put on sunscreen and bring fans for your rooms. Like most colleges, Western Oregon University has no air conditioning in the dorms.
Zimfest supplies (borrowed) marimbas and hosho for workshops, but it can be challenging procuring enough instruments for the many types of workshops we offer. If you have or can borrow a mbira in the tuning a workshop will be taught in, please bring it; otherwise the teacher or Zimfest will provide one. The same goes for drumming workshops; if you own or can borrow a drum for a workshop you are taking, please bring it. If you are taking a guitar workshop and have a guitar amp, please bring it as Zimfest cannot provide amps.
Zimfest online registration for housing, dining and workshops is now closed, but you can still sign up for volunteer shifts here. Onsite registration will open at the festival at noon on Thursday August 11. You will then be able to enroll in workshops that still have space in them by going to the Registration Desk.
Workshop registrations will close 15 minutes before the session starting time in order for staff to print final workshop rosters. In some cases latecomers may request a “golden ticket” to sign up for an open workshop up until the start time of the workshop.
Very often bands performing at Zimfest like to sell their CDs after their shows. If you are performing on the evening concert stage, Zimfest can provide table space in the WUC West Lobby outside the Pacific Room concert hall. Please provide your own CD salespeople, as Zimfest volunteers cannot sell CDs for you.

Thanks for reading, and see you at the festival!

Zimfest 2016 Organizing Committee

Sing-Dance-Play! Tambai Tambai! Dlala-Dlala!

Posted In: Festival Details

Tagged With: workshops, Zimfest 2016, Zimfest organizing committee, Zimfest registration

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