Minutes from the April 16th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.
Zimfest News Blog
Zimfest 2023 Registration Opens Soon
Are you ready to register for Zimfest!? Go to the website to Meet the Zimbabweans, meet the Workshop Teachers, browse all 79 workshops on the Workshop Schedule, learn How to Register, and much more.
Registration is due to open late Sunday night at midnight (when the date turns May 1st, Pacific Time) for ZA members, and on May 4th for everyone. Why not join, renew, verify your membership, or get your membership number.
A team of dedicated volunteers, the Zimfest Organizing Committee has been working very hard for the past few months preparing an amazing festival, August 3-6 at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
The Roommate Request Board is a new feature on the website this year (similar to the ride board). Because most dorm rooms are doubles and triples, you may want to find a roommate, to save money on housing.
You can always get the latest news by going to the Zimfest Home Page (in the white box in the middle).
Larry Israel
Zimfest website maintainer
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Announcing Zimbabwean Artists at Zimfest 2023
Dear Zimfest community,
The Zimfest OC is excited to announce the Zimbabwean guests for 2023, including five performing and teaching artists new to Zimfest: Othnell Mangoma Moyo, Joyce Warikandwa Chihera, Mudavanhu Magaya, Innocent Musafare Mutero, and Tendayi Kusaya. Read more about them and returning friends on the Festival Overview page. Also check out planned Festival Events, including a tribute in song to the recently deceased Ambuya Stella Chiweshe among the Festival Highlights on Sunday afternoon.
We are hard at work getting registration ready to go, targeted to open on May 1 for members and May 4 for all others; the workshop schedule will be published soon. We have had unexpected news from OSU University Housing services, in that many of the rooms for rent in McNary Hall are triples. This is a mixed blessing as the triple rooms will be great for participants coming in groups, but not all the beds will be at floor level as we requested. See On-Campus Housing for room rates and configurations.
Friendly reminder to those wishing to renew Memberships: If you are a long-time member but have not paid for a membership since November 2021 (when we introduced a new membership system), you cannot renew your old membership. You must take out a new membership in the new system. If you take out or renew a membership in April, you will be able to access the registration system on May 1 before the general public.
Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator
Music Dancing Across Borders
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Marketplace Vendor Applications Open April 1
Hello all,
Applications open April 1 for vendor booths in the Zimfest African Marketplace and will be accepted through July 18.
Because both daytime and evening concerts will be on an outdoor stage at the OSU Lower Campus/McNary Field, marketplace vendors will have the option to sell their wares in Zimfest’s first-ever Night Market on Friday Aug 4 and Saturday Aug 5. See the Vendor Information page for Marketplace fees, dates and hours, as well as the link to the vendor application. Zimfest will be renting equipment for the marketplace from a third party vendor; if your application is received later than July 18, you will be charged a late fee, and may not be able to request tables and chairs.
Browse our website for the many pages of festival information we have put up recently: check out On-Campus Housing and Dining, Festival Costs and Important Dates and Deadlines. We plan to publish the workshop grid in approximately three weeks, so you may peruse the offerings before registration opens May 1.
Zimfest Organizing Committee
Music Dancing Across Borders
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March Board Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the March 12th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.
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February Board Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the February 12th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.
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March Music!
March Music!
As we gear up for Zimfest 2023 (August 3-6 in Corvallis, OR), let us take a moment to revisit our wonderful Zimfest Online 2022 concert, and celebrate our friend Draze (aka Dumisani Maraire Jr.) with his new single and music video! Read on for more info on both.
Mazvita – Emmy Award-Winning Songwriter-Rapper “Draze” Drops New Hip Hop Single “Mazvita”
Mazvita is a single from Draze’s upcoming album, “African American.” Dubbed “Ancestral art,” the single blends rich African melodies with raw hip-hop energy to create a fresh, yet familiar sound that feels like “home” to fans in America and abroad. The album is dedicated to his father Dumisani A. Maraire, and his mother Lora Chiorah-Dye, in gratitude for all they instilled in him.
You can find the music video here, and learn more about Draze and his music here.
Zimfest Online 2022 – In December, Zimfest released on YouTube a live viewing of a collection of incredible pre-recorded performances and presentations. That video is still available!
You can register and get the link at Zimfest Online 2022.
Artists featured are: Ntswai Ntswai Arts, Tawanda Mapanda, Anesu Ndoro, Tafadzwa Matiure, and Napoleon Jambwa and Pangea.
We hope you are having a good (early) spring, and please enjoy some March Music!
– Zimfest
Music Dancing Across Borders
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Introducing the Zimfest 2023 Artwork
Greetings Zimfest Community,
We are pleased to present the winning Zimfest 2023 graphic by Penny Martindale of Olympia. It appears on the Zimfest website homepage in the form of a banner, and in a downloadable Save-the-Date card on the 2023 Overview page.
Zimfest applications for teachers and performers closed on February 28. Thanks to all who applied. The Organizing Committee has plenty of work to do in the weeks ahead and we look forward to putting together a program including old friends we have not seen in several years, as well as introducing exciting new teachers and performers from North America and Zimbabwe.
Here’s to the end of winter,
Zimfest OC
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COVID-19 Policies for Zimfest 2023
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
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November, December and January Board Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the November 13th, December 11th and January 8th meetings of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.
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AmazonSmile Winding Down
Dear Zimfest community,
Just a note to let you know that AmazonSmile, the charitable arm of Amazon.com that has allowed customers to direct donations to charitable organizations when they shop online, will be winding down as of 20 February 2023. For the past decade, you have been able to choose the Zimfest Association as the organization you would like to receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible Amazon purchases (see Support Zimfest). At times just pennies, these amounts have added up to significant donations to our non-profit Zimfest Association over the years.
We will be sad to see AmazonSmile go. Perhaps if you have been thinking of making an online purchase, make a point to visit AmazonSmile before Feb. 20th and direct your donation to the Zimfest Association.
Thank you!
Claire Jones, Zimfest Coordinator
Music Dancing Across Borders
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Zimfest 2023 News
From the ZA Board and OC
We are excited to announce that all Zimfest 2023 concerts, daytime and evening, will be OUTSIDE on a stage in the OSU Lower Campus, also called McNary Field. This decision was made for several reasons: the main concert venue at OSU, LaSells-Stewart Center, will be unavailable because of renovation, and both alternative ballrooms (in the Student Union and Alumni Center) were judged to have shortcomings such as minimal backstage space and no loading dock.
Our concert production team suggested several years ago that we have our evening concerts outdoors, but none of our recent hosts allowed music outside after 10 PM. The music (noise) curfew in the OSU Field will be 11 PM, allowing us plenty of time for music-making under the stars!
This is the year! One big advantage to us is that we will be able to make all concerts open to all performers regardless of visa status! (No “visiting Zimbabweans perform in the afternoon only” this year!) Admission will be by donation, with pre-concert ticket sales beginning when registration opens (targeted for May 1). Those of you who have registered for workshops by donation in the past should be aware that requesting donations for events that are effectively free allows us to pay honoraria to Zimbabweans who come here on a B1 visitors visa (see Workshops by Donation, scroll down). We ask that you support our visiting artists, and support Zimfest’s move to Evening Outdoor Concerts, by donating as much for your concert tickets as you paid in previous years.
Of course, none of this will happen unless we receive more applications for performing and teaching! Remember, the application deadlines for Zimfest 2023 are coming soon, February 28.
Performer applications here
Teacher applications here
ZA Board and Organizing Committee
Music Dancing Across Borders
To those of you who might be worried about getting rained on during outdoor concerts, please note that there is historically a 3% chance of rain that first weekend in August, the lowest for the entire year. This is the year!
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