Aspen Does Africa In Summer 2007

March 29th, 2007 at 04:22am Post Staff 43

ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—A combo platter of five leading nonprofits here have cooked up a celebration of the art of Africa in Aspen in summer 2007.

Aspen explores Africa during the last week of June in stories, music, ideas, and film via the Aspen Writers’ Foundation, Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen Institute, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, and Aspen Film.

"Each of Aspen's cultural organizations operates at an international level, bringing the world's best thinkers, artists and educators together in an atmosphere of interchange and inspiration unmatched anywhere in the world,” said Aspen Music Festival and School president and chief executive officer Alan Fletcher. “This year's collaboration is one of these special happenings that creates something more important and exciting than any one group could create on their own. The exchange of art and ideas around the culture of Africa will be nothing short of dazzling.”
 
The week devoted to Africa includes a Nobel Prize-winning author, a concert with a premier American jazz musician and Ghanaian drum masters, and a panel discussion with six writers who are creating today’s African literary culture. The Aspen Music Festival and School will collaborate with Jazz Aspen Snowmass to bring in Pulitzer Prize-winner and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis conducting the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) in “Congo Square” June 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Benedict Music Tent; JLCO will be joined by Congo Square co-writer and Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy and Addy’s nine-piece ensemble of Ghanaian drummers/vocalists Odadaa! Single ticket levels are $40 and $80.

“Africa is often referred to as the cradle of civilization,” said  Aspen Writers’ Foundation executive director Lisa Consiglio, “and has given birth to some of the richest and most diverse culture in history, including music, mythology, song, writing and, more recently, film. This year, the Aspen Writers' Foundation is proud to join hands with several of Aspen 's finest arts organizations to bring the stories and sounds of Africa to our local stages.”

The Aspen Writers’ Foundation will immerse participants in the literary culture of Africa during its 31st annual Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival June 24 to 28 in a schedule entitled: “Africa: The Origin of Stories.” Writers on the docket include Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Leila Aboulela, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Binyavanga Wainaina, Alexandra Fuller, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. as moderator. The Writers’ Foundation is also collaborating with Aspen Film with contemporary short and feature films complementing the month’s Africa events. Aspen Summer Words Festival passes are $200; single tickets will go on sale in June.

In addition, from June 28-30, 2007, the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship Program convenes the first Aspen Global Leadership Network comprised of nearly 600 Fellows from 26 different countries. Some 15-20 Fellows from the Africa Leadership Initiative in Ghana , Nigeria , Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda and South Africa will participate in the ACT II celebration. Writer/scholars Anthony Appiah, Wole Soyinka and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and  IDEO founder David Kelley will be featured at the plenary sessions.

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