Zimfest News Blog

New Membership System

Dear Zimfest Association members and friends,

Once again, we find ourselves at the end of a trying year, but the holidays are upon us and with them comes the Zimfest Association’s annual campaign and membership drive! We want to continue to grow the festival and provide the best experience we can, and here are some ways that you can help.

Become a Member

Thanks to the hard work of the Zimfest Tech Committee, becoming a member is now even easier! Simply go to https://zimfest.org/about/membership/. From there, you can become a member, renew a membership, or verify your membership status by plugging in your email address. We are excited to announce that there is finally an option to auto-renew, which defaults to “yes.” Simply uncheck this box if you do not wish to auto-renew. Previously, memberships went by calendar year, but now the renewal date will be 1 year after the purchase date.

We are also pleased to announce that all Zimfest Association members will not only have their festival registration fees waived as before, but will also have early access to register for all the workshops at the festival! This additional membership perk comes with the decision to raise our membership prices for the first time in well over a decade, or maybe ever. We hope you will decide to take the plunge this year and become a member!

Provide Charitable Donations

Perhaps you’re already a member, but you want to know how you can help out even more? Consider a tax-deductible donation! While membership dues are a significant contributor to our community, your donations continue to be essential. Your money goes straight to things like paying travel expenses for Zimbabwean teachers, paying teachers for performances and workshops, our travel fellowship program for Zimbabwean artists, and most recently, things like paying for studio space and recording equipment for Zimfest Online. To donate, go to the Support Zimfest page.

Other Ways to Contribute

As you’re finishing up your holiday shopping, remember that 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 (see https://zimfest.org/blog/2014/support-zimfest-when-you-shop-at-amazon-com/). Also, if you’re selling stuff on eBay, you can choose to donate a percentage of the final sales price to the Zimfest Association. See https://charity.ebay.com/charity/i/Zimfest-Association/85993 for more information.

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’re celebrating this year, we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and we’re crossing our fingers that we will finally see each other again next year!

Warmly,
The Zimfest Board

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Zimfest 2022 Announcement

Dear Zimfest Community,

It is with great excitement that I am writing to announce the location and dates for Zimfest 2022, which we plan to hold in-person!.

At this point, I need to stress that we will not be able to move forward without additional help on the Organizing Committee, and many more onsite volunteers. Please see the information below to learn how you can make this festival happen.

Zimfest is scheduled to be held June 24-26, 2022 (Friday-Sunday; possibly also Monday), at the Skagit County Fairgrounds, in Mount Vernon, WA. Evening concerts will be held at the classic Lincoln Theatre, a 10 minute walk away.

Being approximately 1 hour north of Seattle, 30 minutes south of Bellingham, and 1.5 hours from Whidbey Island, Mount Vernon is located at the heart of the Washington State Zimfest community and also has ready access to major airports for those traveling from farther away.

We are still early in the planning process, and with the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, many aspects of the festival remain uncertain. The board has formed a COVID Safety Committee to make additional recommendations for the Festival, which is likely to include proof of vaccination, and universal masking at all Zimfest events in addition to following local and state guidelines/mandates in place at the time of the Festival.

Finally, I want to thank Claire Jones, Festival Coordinator, and the small group of volunteers who have already stepped up to serve on the 2022 Organizing Committee. This year will require more volunteer involvement during the planning stages due to some unique aspects of the venue.

If you want Zimfest 2022 to move forwards, please contact Claire Jones (claire[at]zimfest[dot]org), or volunteers[at]zimfest[dot]org as soon as possible to learn more about how you can help. The Organizing Committee meets by Zoom, so both local and more distant volunteers are welcome.

We need you to make Zimfest 2022 a success!

Sincerely,
Alex Weeks
Zimfest Association Board President

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Village Meeting and November Board Meeting Minutes

The Zimfest Association board of directors has posted minutes from the August 1st Membership/Village Meeting and the November 14th board meeting.

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October Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the October 10th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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September Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the September 12th meeting of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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Zimfest 2021 Workshop Access Ends

Dear Zimfest community,

Registration for access to the Zimfest 2021 Live Workshop recordings closed September 30, and we thank all who participated. The Zimfest Organizing Committee is now in its resting phase, with no news to report on plans for Zimfest 2022.

Posting on behalf of Blessing Chimanga
Musician and producer Blessing Chimanga, who oversaw recordings of performers in Harare for Zimfest 2021, has announced plans to record his third album. He intends to put out a message of Hope in both chiShona and English, and is seeking sponsorship for his project. If anyone would like to assist Blessing, please write directly to him at Dreams TV, legendbled{at}gmail{dot}com.

Stay well and stay safe,
Claire and the Zimfest Team

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June, July and August Board Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the June 13th, July 11th and August 8th meetings of the Zimfest Association board of directors have been posted.

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Zimfest 2021 Live Workshop Recordings

Greetings Zimfesters,

A belated Thank You to all who attended or participated in Zimfest 2021! Those who tuned in for the weekend were wowed by the number, diversity and quality of Zimbabwean performers and presenters! 

For those of you who missed one or more of the Live Workshops (on Zoom), we are providing on-demand access to the video recordings on a donation basis. Registration is now open for all of the workshops, and the recordings will be available through September 2021.  

Check out complete descriptions of all the workshops along with teacher biographies on the Live Participatory Workshops page. Once you register for a recording, you will be able to view it at any time you wish during the month of September.

Claire Jones, Zimfest Coordinator

(PS – Reminding you that the 2021 concerts are still viewable on Zimfest’s Facebook Live Videos page.)

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Zimfest Reminders and Village Meeting Zoom Link

Greetings Zimfest-ers,

Zimfest 2021 starts tomorrow – Friday July 30! We kick off at 2:00 pm PDT with two Live Participatory Workshops on Zoom.

  • The Friday evening concert, taking place on Zimfest Facebook Live opens with tributes to Sekuru Cosmas Magaya and Matemai Newton Cheza-Chozengwa at 5:30 pm PDT.
  • There are plenty of openings in all Workshops – take a look at the offerings here. The link to registrations (required) is at the top of the page.
  • We encourage you to tune into the timely and important Live Workshop with Māhealani Uchiyama and former Zimfest Board member Rujeko Dumbutshena discussing engagement in Zimbabwean music through a lens of racial and cultural appreciation/appropriation issues: Sunday 2 -3 pm PDT.
  • The Zimfest Association Village Meeting takes place at 3:15 to 4:15 pm PDT on Sunday in its own Zoom room – registration not required, open to all interested parties.

Join Village Meeting on Zoom (room opens 3 pm)

(Zoom meeting access info was posted here)

Hope to “see” you at Zimfest!
Claire and the Organizing Committee

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2021 Zimfest Message from the OC

Hi Zimfest Fans,

As I am sure most of you are aware, the Zimfest Organizing Committee has been busy putting together an awesome show for this year, with some great favorite players like mbira master Musekiwa Chingodza, and some totally new folks to Zimfest, like dancer Ndomupeishe Chipendo.

The OC has been hearing from folks that they would much prefer a live event instead of the online show that is being presented.  We get it and completely agree that seeing folks up close and personal would be the best, and we would much rather have a live event as well.  However, it was obvious that we would not be able to get anyone into this country from Zimbabwe by July.  Sadly, the situation is getting worse now, very few Zimbabweans have been vaccinated and Covid is spreading rapidly through Zimbabwe, so our crystal ball was correct.  We also did not know what the situation would be like in July in America either, and the Covid cases have been climbing here as well. 

However, we equally know that our Zimbabwean friends could really use a cash infusion, so let’s support them in any way that we can, which in this case is supporting their efforts to provide us with some great performances and workshops.  On the bright side, this year we are able to present some folks that we have not been able to bring to Zimfest due to cost constraints, but we are able to include them in our online presentation.  So check out our great program schedule for the weekend of July 30 – August 1 and join us.  If that weekend does not work for you, the concerts will be available on demand and you can view them later at a time of your convenience. 

The full schedule and concert lineups have now been published on our website and on our Facebook page.

So let’s enjoy this awesome show and see you all in person in 2022!

Thanks,
Jim Levine and the Zimfest Organizing Committee

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The Make It Grow Project

Make It Grow: Supporting community-based food initiatives in Zimbabwe to fundraise using participatory video proposals

[Posted on behalf of Pamela Richardson-Ngwenya and the Make it Grow project]

In an attempt to empower communities to alleviate increasing food and nutritional insecurity, especially during the pandemic, the Make It Grow Project has been running online capacity-building workshops with community groups and NGOs in Zimbabwe to equip participants with the skills needed to create their own video proposals, using smartphone technologies. These video proposals pitch home-grown ideas for community food projects and can be used by the community groups and NGOs as a fundraising tool. The intention is to increase the accessibility of start-up funds for implementing community-based, sustainable food projects, while at the same time building up local video-making and project planning skills.

We devise learning resources for community groups and facilitators, to support straightforward ways of enhancing the social inclusion, production and dissemination of video proposals. We also work with the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (Small Grants Programme) and other donors to support and pilot the integration of video proposals into their grant management and application process, making it more inclusive for all. Following the workshop series, we continue to support our participants and their fundraising campaigns through ongoing public events and online publication of their video proposals.

We are now asking for YOUR help! Please support our community partners in Zimbabwe to fundraise for their sustainable food projects by donating to their crowdfunding campaigns and promoting their videos on your social media networks. Make It Grow is a Knowledge Exchange project from the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food, supported by the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council. You can visit our website at www.makeitgrow.org.

You can see some of the participants’ videos here: Video Proposals :: Make It Grow

Pamela Richardson-Ngwenya
Project Leader, Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow and Learning Facilitator
Make It Grow

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Zimfest 2021 Updates – Workshop Registration is Open

Dear Zimfest community,

Zimfest 2021 is less than two weeks away, taking place from July 30 to August 1. The Organizing Committee has been hard at work and has the following updates for you:

  • The Festival Schedule gives an outline of activities for the weekend. Detailed lineups will be posted soon.
  • See Festival Overview for an introduction to the amazing performers and presenters who will be joining us online on Facebook Live.
  • Live Participatory Workshops will take place on Zoom; registrations are required and donations requested. Workshop descriptions, teacher biographies and a link to the registrations are here
  • The 2021 Virtual Marketplace is now open, featuring vendors and importers selling instruments and wares made by Zimbabweans.
  • Emcees needed: why not get a buddy to hold a viewing party with you, enjoy the show for a 2 to 3 hour block of time, and get paid to engage with the music together! Write to volunteers{at}zimfest{dot}org for info. 

Zimfest mourns the loss of Gwenyambira Matemai Newton Cheza-Chozengwa, who passed away on Saturday. We extend our condolences to his family and friends, and all the mbira lovers whose hearts he touched. Enjoy the recording of Matemai singing with Rattletree Marimba at Zimfest 2009 on our homepage (lower left corner).

Zimfest Organizing Committee

Zimfest 2021: A Quilt of Local Events… Stitched Together

 

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