Dear Zimfest Community,
The board has developed a set of policies and recommendations related to COVID-19 safety at Zimfest 2023, which are now available here.
We wanted to make sure that this information was available ahead of the of upcoming deadline for teacher and performer applications. As a reminder, applications are due in just over a week, on February 28th!
Thanks,
Alex Weeks
Zimfest Board President
Dear Zimfest Community,
We previously announced a July date for Zimfest 2023, at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR. However, after more planning and consultation with our host, we have made the decision to change the dates to August 3rd-6th. We apologize to anyone who is negatively impacted by this change, but feel that it is the best decision for the festival, for the reasons listed below.
The primary reason for this change is that significantly more suitable classroom space is available later in the summer, especially for marimba, hosho, and drumming classes which require sound isolation. Furthermore, we will have exclusive use of our preferred dorm/dining center, because most other conferences on campus wrap up before these dates.
Finally, I am pleased to announce that teacher and performer applications are now open! The application deadline is February 28th.
Please visit teacher application information, and performer application information for details.
Thanks,
Alex Weeks
Zimfest Board President
Greetings Zimfest Community,
Zimfest 2023 will retain the festival theme “Music Dancing Across Borders,” given our awareness that circumstances for immigrants and visa applicants remain difficult both here in the United States and in Zimbabwe. We are steadfast in the knowledge that music and dance are unifying forces and look forward to creating togetherness at the festival! We are inviting you to submit designs and artwork related to this theme for use on the Zimfest 2023 poster, tee shirts and other promotional material. Your design could reference Zimbabwean performing art in one or more of its many manifestations: marimba, mbira, dance, etc. Be aware, however, that we loved the simplicity and soaring feel of the heron originally created by Carrie Rodlend for the 2020 live festival (see below).
See you in Corvallis July 21-23!
Zimfest 2023 Organizing Committee
Migrating South for the Final Time
Dear Zimfest community,
Now that the ZA Board has identified a host institution (Oregon State University in Corvallis) for an in-person Zimfest from July 21-23, 2023, it’s past time to get to work on it!
Online applications are scheduled to open in early January. We are actively recruiting volunteers and team members to work on the Zimfest Organizing Committee (OC). Many of the current OC members are willing to continue on and may be able to mentor inexperienced or young volunteers who want to learn on the job as interns.
Volunteer for the OC – members take responsibility for major areas of the festival, meet regularly via Zoom, and share files on Zimfest’s Google Drive. Thus, OC members must be technologically capable of working remotely and using Google Drive. (But don’t worry, there are many non-OC tasks that can be done without needing to meet regularly or use Google Drive!). We need people to work on the following:
Other jobs take up varying lengths of time leading up to and at the festival, but do not require you to meet regularly with the OC:
Call for Festival Artwork coming soon!
Thanks in advance for your help and support,
Claire Jones
Zimfest Coordinator
Dearest Zimfest Association Members and friends,
Somehow, 2022 is already trying to sneak out the door, but before 2023 is upon us, I wanted to take a few minutes to let you all know about some exciting things happening in our community.
First and foremost, we are thrilled to announce that Zimfest 2023 is officially a go! The experiment that was Zimfest 2022 taught us many things, but mostly that we really missed seeing our friends and playing wonderful music. After over a decade, we will be returning to Oregon State University in Corvallis on July 21-23 and we hope to see as many of you as possible!
Secondly, you may recall some of the amazing pre-recorded performances both from our online festival in 2021, and between live acts at the Lincoln Theatre in 2022. We received so many amazing videos that we simply couldn’t include all of them. So on December 16th and 17th, we will make them available online for your viewing pleasure. Look for details and registration soon!
And now, I have to take a moment to thank all of our Zimfest Association members! Yes, this was secretly a membership drive all along! There are now almost 100 active members, all of whom allow us to continue working to provide an annual festival while maintaining our connection to the music of Zimbabwe year round! Not a member yet? No problem! Thanks to our streamlined new membership service, it’s easier than ever to join the Zimfest team. Simply go to https://zimfest.org/about/membership. From there, you can follow instructions to become a member, renew a membership, or verify your membership status by plugging in your email address. We now have the option to auto-renew so you can contribute every year without even having to think about it! Please remember that if your membership is more than a year old, you will need to sign up again using our new system. Perks for members include a waiving of the festival registration fee, early access to workshop registration, and even a discount for our upcoming online concert series in December.
“But Daniel, I’m already a member, yet I am compelled, nay, impelled to contribute to Zimfest even more. Whatever can I do??” Great question! There are lots of other ways to contribute. Consider making a tax-deductible donation of whatever amount works for you. Shopping online? When you shop on Amazon, you can support Zimfest by choosing the Zimfest Association as the organization you would like to receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. If you’re selling stuff on eBay, you can choose to donate a percentage of the final sales price to the Zimfest Association. Please visit https://charity.ebay.com/charity-auctions/my-causes/ and search for Zimfest! Finally, if your company supports matching donations, find out from your supervisor or Human Resources department how your company can match your contributions!
Whatever you may be celebrating this year, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our online event next month, and in Oregon next summer!
Membership questions? Please contact me at:
Warmly,
Daniel Lockley
Zimfest Association board member and Membership Queen on behalf of the The Zimfest Board
