What We Do
Elegba, from the Yoruba cosmology of West Africa, is an Orisa or intercessor who opens the roads, bringing clarity out of confusion. The Elegba Folklore Society is a year-round, lively celebration of African and African American culture. Enjoy art and imports in our cultural center. Sway with our performance company in the warmth and feel of an African village. Awaken your spirit! Or, participate in a guided heritage tour along the Trail of Enslaved Africans and of other notable sites. The Capital City Kwanzaa Festival, Down Home Family Reunion, a Celebration of African American Folk Life, Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration and the Black Book Expo • A Conscious Literary Festivalare events that have delighted audiences during our 32 years. The Society offers the best in African Diasporic cultural experiences, promoting immersive experiences that illuminate the present and value the past.
Why We Do It
Elegba Folklore Society provides cultural education through the arts. With attention to aspects of African world culture the organization seeks to re-instill an essential cultural foundation in African Americans and to open the hearts of understanding throughout entire communities.
Enrichment programming explores and expresses the human experience through creative works. Among the means by which the Society pursues reckoning with the stories of the past, lifting up stories that celebrate and engaging stories that honor are:
* Planning and managing family-oriented special events,
* Organizing exhibitions of art and artifacts,
* Presenting performance and teaching programs in dance theatre and music, and
* Guiding cultural history tours.
These programs offer experiential learning and include ancient cultural wisdom and traditions to help define what it means to be fully human as a being in our world.
“The Elegba Folklore Society has worked wonders in helping build bridges between communities. It has provided unique educational opportunities through the arts while representing the best of Richmond here at home and in locations across the Commonwealth and United States…Always carrying a message of community and earning friends for our great city.”
— Mayor Timothy M. Kaine, 1999 (Currently serves as a US Senator from Virginia)
Elegba Folklore Society’s programs are international signature events of the United Nations’ 2015 – 2024 International Decade for People of African Descent. An excerpt of the declaration said:
“There are around 200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas. Many millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent. The promotion and protection of human rights of people of African descent has been a priority concern for the United Nations. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action acknowledged that people of African descent were victims of slavery, the slave trade and colonialism, and continue to be victims of their consequences.
The International Decade aims to celebrate the important contributions of people of African descent worldwide, advance social justice and inclusion policies, eradicate racism and intolerance, promote human rights, and assist in creating better, more prosperous communities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals spearheaded by the United Nations.
The International Decade for People of African Descent, proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 68/237 and to be observed from 2015 to 2024, provides a solid framework for the United Nations, Member States, civil society and all other relevant actors to join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the programme of activities in the spirit of recognition, justice and development.”
Among the Yoruba, Elegba is the Orisa or intercessor who opens the roads, bringing clarity out of confusion. We hope our programs and services are, indeed, road-opening experiences.
Embrace the Spirit!