Elegba Folklore Society

Black Book Expo - Day 2
2020-01-22 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
pThe Black Book Expo, Sat • Feb 22, Sun • Feb 23
Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad Street Free. Refreshments Available.
The public is invited to meet authors and browse and buy books to complement personal collections. A variety of titles will be available for adults and children.

Capital City Kwanzaa Festival December 28, 2019
2019-12-28 13:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Martin Luther King, Jr Middle School, 1000 Mosby St, Richmond, VA, 23223
Capital City Kwanzaa Festival December 28, 2019

Capital City Kwanzaa Festival presents performances, workshops, children’s activities, The African Market, food and more observe the year’s-end Kwanzaa holiday, a cultural affirmation of values, thanksgiving and growth. This event is the largest of its kind in Virginia, and therefore, one of the largest on the East Coast. Elegba Folklore Society’s Artistic Director first produced a Kwanzaa program in Richmond in 1986 and the Society first presented its festival in 1990. (Annually during the December Kwanzaa Holiday)
2019 Capital City Kwanzaa Festival Details
Interested in Vending for 2019 Click Here

CONTACT US

3rd Saturday Documentaries: Black Indians of New Orleans
2019-12-21 17:00 - 19:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
THE BLACK INDIANS OF NEW ORLEANS
“This classic award-winning documentary is the first definitive treatment of the origins and rituals of the Black Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, It features two tribes: The Yellow Pocahontas led by Big Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana, and The White Eagles, led by Big Chief Gerald “Jake” Milon. The first part of the film reveals the sociocultural history of the Mardi Gras Indians, their costume prepartion, music, songs, dance and gatherings for a ritual practice. The second part is a sunrise to sunset visual account of the processions and street culture of the Black Indians on Mardi Gras Day. The film was screened for a full week in the New York Whitney Museum’s New Filmmakers Series. also was a finalist in the Cine Golden Eagle Awards and was screened at the Margaret Mead Film Festival. International festivals/screenings include: The Pompedeau Centre in Paris; London; Berlin; West Africa.”

Community Study Group, What Is Africa to Me?
2019-12-18 19:00 - 21:00, 2019-09-18 19:00 - 21:00, 2019-04-17 07:00 - 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
In this Community Study Group, we explore and discuss history, culture and contemporary affairs throughout the African Diaspora with former Virginia State University professor, Neal Holmes, political scientist and historian.
What Is Africa To Me?
Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center
Monthly. Free.

Meet Maasai Chief Josefph Ole Tipanko
2019-10-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
MEET MAASAI CHIEF JOSEPH OLE TIPANKO VISITING WITH HIS DELEGATION FROM KENYA
He and his delegation will speak about Maasai culture — Maasai origins, traditional belief systems, rights of passage and more. Attendees can enjoy a performance of Maasai traditional dance and poetry. Plus, handmade jewelry and other art items by Maasai women will be available for sale. Authentically collectible.
Plus, learn about community development in the Ngong Hills of the Great Rift Valley of southern Kenya.
Free. Bring the family.

Soulful Sunday
2019-09-15 15:00 - 19:00 | Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, 1440 N. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23223, United States
Admission is FREE!
From their first arrival in 1619, Africans & African Americans have contributed to and shaped our nation’s culture in countless ways. Their traditions reflect through art, music, food, religion, and most of all, the convictions of hope, determination, and courage. They have left an indelible and enduring mark on American society.
Come celebrate and commemorate these traditions with dance & music performances, arts & craft activities, historical portrayals, and product & food vendors!

Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts 10th Anniversary Celebration
2019-09-06 19:30 - 21:00 | VA
On September 6, 2019 at 7:30PM, RPAA will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the opening of Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts (which opened as Richmond CenterStage in 2009). Presented by Altria Group, Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director, Nathaniel Shaw, will bring together our resident companies – City Dance Theatre, Elegba Folklore Society, Latin Ballet of Virginia, Quill Theatre, Richmond Ballet, Richmond Symphony, SPARC, Virginia Opera and Virginia Repertory Theatre- for a collaborative performance to celebrate the transformative power of the arts in our community. There is no better way to highlight the mission of RPAA than to provide the Richmond community with access to the incredible local talent of these organizations!
Tickets at: DominionEnergyCenter.com or call 1.800.514.ETIX (3849)
Tickets for the performance will be $27-$42. Use discount code: RPAA10 for 10% off any ticket!
Link to tickets: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/2350036/

2019 AfroFest RVA
2019-08-31 12:00 - 18:00 | Pine Camp Park, 4901 Old Brook Rd., Richmond, VA, United States
AfroFest RVA is returning once again!
Enjoy food, music, African performances, a fashion show, children activities and much more!
“The purpose of AfroFest RVA is to help Africans who have relocated to Richmond form home bases to create connections between other African Nations living in Richmond, as well as to create quality friendships and community connections with the citizens of Richmond,” Enrichmond.comsays.

AfroFest RVA will be held on Aug. 31, from 12-6 p.m. at Pine Camp Arts and Community Center.

29th Annual Down Home Family Reunion
2019-08-17 16:00 - 23:00 | Abner Clay Park, Brook Road and West Clay Street, Richmond, 23219, United States
Down Home Family Reunion, A Celebration of African American Folklife is a downtown weekend festival that celebrates African American folklife with world music and dance, the Heritage Market, special children’s events, interactive site demonstrations and delicious down home food. It is designed to show aspects of West African cultural traditions that are African American and that have been absorbed by the American South. This is one of the Society’s original programs created in 1990.

Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration - Homage to the Ancestors - JUNE 16, 2019
2019-06-16 15:00 - 19:00 | Richmond’s African Burial Ground, Both Sides of the 1500 Block of E. Broad St., Richmond, 23219
Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration June 14 – 16, 2019

This year’s Keynote Speaker: Dr. Molefi Kete AsanteAs a people, our most cherished and valuable achievements are the achievements of spirit. With an Afrocentric spirit, all things can be made to happen; it is the source of genuine revolutionary commitment. – Dr. Molefi Kete Asante

June 16 • Homage to the Ancestors
African Burial Ground, 16th & Broad Streets

On Sunday, West African spirit rituals and ceremony refresh and invite an open- ness to say “thank you.” Lead by Virginia Ile O.I.D.S.I., it’s Homage to the An- cestors at the African Burial Ground, 16th and Broad Streets, in ceremony, drumming and song. Attendees may bring an offering for the altar. White or African attire is requested.

Purchase Tickets

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Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration - Independence Day Our Way - JUNE 15, 2019
2019-06-15 15:00 - 19:00 | Manchester Dock, 139 Virginia Street, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration June 14 – 16, 2019

This year’s Keynote Speaker: Dr. Molefi Kete AsanteAs a people, our most cherished and valuable achievements are the achievements of spirit. With an Afrocentric spirit, all things can be made to happen; it is the source of genuine revolutionary commitment. – Dr. Molefi Kete Asante

June 15 • Independence Day Our Way
Manchester Dock, 1308 Brander Street, 23224
Families are invited to an independence day celebration like no other. Enjoy music curated a party master D.J. spiced with history and social justice commentaries. Dr. Molefi Asante will lead the featured, Get Woke Youth Summit on cultural education for ages 10 – 20. There will also be heritage crafts for the children, jump rope and hula hoop contests, African dance and drum workshops for all plus shopping in The Freedom Market, more. Elegba Folklore Society’s performers provide important Afrocentric context for examining the American enslavement of African people, and the event culminates with the Annual Torch Lit Night Walk on the Trail of Enslaved Africans.

Purchase Tickets

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JUNETEENTH, A FREEDOM CELEBRATION - Symposium – JUNE 14, 2019
2019-06-14 18:00 - 22:00 | VA
Juneteenth, A Freedom Celebration June 14 – 16, 2019

This year’s Keynote Speaker: Dr. Molefi Kete AsanteAs a people, our most cherished and valuable achievements are the achievements of spirit. With an Afrocentric spirit, all things can be made to happen; it is the source of genuine revolutionary commitment. – Dr. Molefi Kete Asante

June 14 • The Symposium featuring Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
Dr. Asante is a professor of American American Studies at Temple University and president of the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies in Philadelphia. In coining “Afrocentricity,” he says:
“I chose the term Afrocentricity to emphasize the fact that African people had been moved off of our own terms for the past four hundred years. In other words, Africans were not simply removed from Africa to the Americas, but Africans were separated from philosophies, languages, religions, myths and cultures.
Finding a way to relocate or to reorient our thinking was essential to the presentation of African cultural reality. In fact, without such a reorientation, Africans have nothing to bring to the table of humanity but the experiences of Europeans, those who initially moved Africans off of social, cultural and psychological terms.”
June 15 • Independence Day Our Way
Come to this Independence Day backyard party! Enjoy music, games, shopping, food and history all laid out by the river in the sacred space of the Manchester Dock. At dusk, the Torch Lit Night Walk Along the Trail of Enslaved Africans.
June 16 • Homage to the Ancestors
Engage in African spirituality and thanksgiving at the African Burial Ground.
Purchase Tickets

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African Community Network & Elegba Folklore Society Present - Africa Day
2019-05-25 13:00 - 16:00 | Richmond Public Library, 101 E Franklin St., Richmond, VA, 23219, United States

New Art Exhibit: The Fire Inside -The Paintings of Kelly U. Johnson
2019-05-03 17:00 - 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
NEW ART AT ELEGBA FOLKLORE SOCIETY
“The Fire Inside“
featuring the paintings of Kelly U. Johnson
May 3 – August 31

A native of Louisville, KY, Kelly U. Johnson is a self-taught visual artist who was born to create. She honed her skills at the University of Louisville. The Fire Inside expresses her passion — her love and drive to inspire others with evolution stories. Ms. Johnson shares, “I use texture to reveal experiences, vibrant colors to represent and idea…feeling or even presence within the story.”

Acrylic paint is her favorite because it allows ideas and layering to form and change while creating.

Her work has appeared in publications, and she has shown at several galleries in Richmond, the Taubman Museum in Roanoke and the Mize Gallery in Saint Petersburg, FL, among others. Her work is a part of collections in Saint Petersburg, Houston, Virginia Beach, VCU Children’s Hospital and her hometown of Louisville.

The Fire Inside will include original works and prints. Ms. Johnson will give a gallery talk during the opening reception.

For more, contact Elegba Folklore Society at 804.644.3900 or story1@efsinc.org.

3rd Saturday Documentaries at Elegba Folklore Society: Al Jazeera’s “Favela Rising”
2019-04-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
Join us in our Cultural Center every 3rd Saturday in the month as we present cinematic works created by black filmmakers across the diaspora.

Featured Documentary: Favela Rising
Favela Rising is a 2005 documentary film by American directors Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary. It was produced by Sidetrack Films and VOY Pictures. It debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2005 where it won the award for Best New Documentary Filmmaker for Zimbalist and Mochary. The film’s look at life in Brazil’s slums won it further awards such as Best Documentary Film from the New York Latino Film Festival and Best Feature Documentary from Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The film has won over twenty-five international festival awards and was short-listed for an Oscar.
The film focuses on the work of Anderson Sá, a former drug trafficker who establishes the grassroots movement AfroReggae. The group, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae (AfroReggae Cultural Group), was initially intended to draw in adolescents interested in a number of musical genres. These genres include, but are not limited to soul, reggae, rap, and hip-hop. Early on, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae offered a different type of education to the youth it attracted. This education included workshops focusing on dance, recycling, football, percussion, and more. The group aims at using music and education to better the lives of youth and prevent further growth of gangs. Grupo Cultural AfroReggae believes that through education, there is a greater likelihood that adolescents will not get caught up in drugs and gang violence.

In the Beginning… Virginia, Along the Trail of Enslaved Africans
2019-04-13 12:00 - 15:30 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
Elegba Folklore Society’s monthly tour program has begun! Reserve your space for the second Saturday. Reservations and details: story1@efsinc.org
Journey into Richmond’s history to visit the sites where few monuments exist. These newly marked sites tell the other half of the story; the story that lives between the pages of history books — in red, white and black. An interactive experience along the Trail of Enslaved Africans, attendees have the chance to ponder the impact of enslavement on the enslaved as shared in their own words and from their own view. Embarking by bus after a contextual visit to the Society’s cultural center, participants will walk in our ancestors’ footsteps from their arrival point at river’s edge into Shockoe Bottom, the area of Richmond that housed the holding pens, jails, blocks and burial ground. The interpreters will interweave the narratives of enslaved Africans with the historical record, characterizations of the day and music. Disembarking from your bus and along the walk, participants will have the chance to immerse themselves in past occurrences that impact our perspectives today.

Listen to Elegba Folklore Society’s Program Director Omilade Janine Bell as she speaks on the Trail of Enslaved Africans.
http://efsinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/TrailOfEnslavedAfricansRadio-1.mp3
Living History, Richmond’s Slave Trail – via WVTF.org
http://efsinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/slave_trail_web.mp3

Black Book Expo
2019-03-16 03:00 - 2019-03-17 18:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
The Black Book Expo, Sat • 3p – 7p, Sun • 3p – 6p
Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad Street Free. Refreshments Available.
The public is invited to meet authors and browse and buy books to complement personal collections. A variety of titles will be available for adults and children.

Rejuvenate
2019-02-23 11:00 - 15:00 | Dominion Arts Center, 600 E Grace St #400, Richmond, 23219, United States
The public is invited to Rejuvenate! This series of classes will happen on Saturday, February 23, 11a – 3p at the Dominion Energy Center, 600 E. Grace Street. Elegba Folklore Society will offer a Yoga class, a fitness class, a West African drumming class and a West African dance class. Tuition for each class is $5, and they are open to all ages 6 – 86.

Attendees should enter the Center using the stage door on 7th Street.

African Dance, Music & the Oral Tradition – A Celebratory Concert
2019-02-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Henrico Theatre, 305 E. Nine Mile Rd., Highland Springs, 23075
Elegba Folklore Society’s performers will present African dance and music from the Manding cosmology of West Africa in an interactive concert spiced with folktales and historical reflection. Families are invited to attend.

What Is Afrika To Me: Study Group
2019-02-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-11-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States

3rd Saturday Documentaries at Elegba Folklore Society: Al Jazeera's "A Moral Debt"
2019-02-16 17:00 - 19:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
A Moral Debt: The Legacy of Slavery in the USA

A journey of self-discovery and education, spanning the legacy of Confederate America and its modern ramifications.

Journalist James Gannon has inherited a controversial family legacy – that of a clear descendancy from General Robert E Lee, who led the Confederate Army against the Union during the American Civil war in the mid-19th century.
Gannon grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, where an 18-metre high statue of his ancestor dominates the landscape in Monument Avenue, the city’s grandest street.
For over 100 years, Richmond has honoured Lee as one of its greatest heroes. Until recently.
In 2015, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof shot nine African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Photographs of Roof draped in and posing with the Confederate flag emerged on a now defunct white supremacist website.
Soon after, the city council in New Orleans voted for their Confederate monuments to be removed. Public consultations over Confederate memorials took place in Virginia, which once had the largest enslaved population in the United States.
When a “Unite the Right” rally to protest against the removal of a Robert E Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned into violent clashes in August 2017, it accelerated the national debate about what to do with the country’s more than 1,500 monuments and publically-installed symbols memorialising the American Civil War.
What happened that weekend in Charlottesville made Gannon consider the true legacy of his slave-owning ancestors.
On a journey into his family’s legacy, Gannon explores why people across the US are so divided on the subject of Confederate monuments and whether the oppression of enslaved people by his ancestors still has an effect on black lives in the US today.
Travelling across Virginia and Maryland to meet key actors in the ongoing moral dilemma the US finds itself in regards to the Civil War and glorification of Confederate monuments, Gannon finds himself face to face with the debate for justice, reparations and the fight to tear these statues down.

New Art at Elegba Folklore Society, "SANKOFA"
2019-02-01 17:00 - 2019-04-30 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
NEW ART AT ELEGBA FOLKLORE SOCIETY, “SANKOFA,” features paintings by Ghanaian artist Ben Agbee.

“It is the love of African ways of life,
the natural environment, extended families
and strong communities that my paintings depict.”

Sankofa is the Asante Adinkra symbol, or expression of wisdom that means “go back and fetch it.” In his paintings, Agbee welcomes the viewer to as he says, “look back to the Motherland to see its future. There is natural power in our earthy relationships among people — the simple things that, in my work, are visual reminders of the cultural richness of everything that is African — respect, appreciation, unity.”

His palette knife and brush techniques create a unique vibrancy that makes his work stand out in synonymousness with his name in the industry and in the marketplace. His works are a visual preservation of foundational Ghanaian values despite, as Agbee laments, “the negative impacts and distractions of Western influences.”

Art speaks. This is Ben Agbee’s second exhibition at Elegba Folklore Society. He has exhibited in Europe, Canada and other US locations in addition to various West African nations. His work has been committed to cards, bags, calendars and the like and can be found in gift shops at the Smithsonian and elsewhere. Agbee’s original works reside in numerous collections worldwide.

Living in his choice to give back, Agbee donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of his work to support young artists at the Opportunities Industrialization Centre, where he also received training.

Make one of these evocative canvasses your own.
Frame it to match your spirit and your environment.

For more, contact Elegba Folklore Society at 804.644.3900 or story1@efsinc.org.

Somethings In The Water
2019-01-22 14:00 - 22:00 | Studio Two Three, 3300 W Clay St, Richmond, VA, 23230, United States
Be visual. Listen to it. Talk about it. Dance with it. @iofcusa Dope all day, two days! Ęlęgba Folklore Society performs on 1/22 at 5:30p. You make it happen.

2018 CAPITAL CITY KWANZAA FESTIVAL
2018-12-29 13:00 - 21:00 | Martin Luther King, Jr Middle School, 1000 Mosby St, Richmond, VA, 23223
Capital City Kwanzaa Festival December 29, 2018

Capital City Kwanzaa Festival presents performances, workshops, children’s activities, The African Market, food and more observe the year’s-end Kwanzaa holiday, a cultural affirmation of values, thanksgiving and growth. This event is the largest of its kind in Virginia, and therefore, one of the largest on the East Coast. Elegba Folklore Society’s Artistic Director first produced a Kwanzaa program in Richmond in 1986 and the Society first presented its festival in 1990. (Annually during the December Kwanzaa Holiday)
2018 Capital City Kwanzaa Festival Details
Interested in Vending for 2018 Click Here

CONTACT US

The Spirit of the Waters Benin, West Africa to Richmond, Virginia – Consultations by Appointment
2018-11-19 14:30 - 17:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
November 18 & 19

The Spirit of the Waters
Benin, West Africa to Richmond, Virginia

H. M. Dada Daagbo Hounon Houna
Supreme Spiritual Chief of Vodun Hwendo
The Republic of Benin

Manbo Dòwòti Désir

Founder, President, AfroAtlantic Theologies & Treaties Institute
New York

Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center • 2:30p
& Sites in Shockoe Bottom
101 E Broad St • Richmond, VA • 804.644.3900

These programs bring us closer to understanding the African spiritual roots of our global kinships.
November 18 • Conversation and Ancestral Rituals

November 19 • Consultations by Appointment***

*** Please bring an offering of $10, minimally. On 11/19, consultations are by appointment. Contact us for details and cost.

The Spirit of the Waters Benin, West Africa to Richmond, Virginia - Conversation and Ancestral Rituals
2018-11-18 14:30 - 17:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States

3rd Saturday Documentaries: Towards a Black Psychology Origins & Evolution of a Discipline
2018-11-17 17:00 - 21:00 | Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center, 101 E Broad St, Richmond, VA, 23219, United States
3rd Saturday Documentaries
Towards a Black Psychology
Origins & Evolution of a Discipline

Elegba Folklore Society’s Cultural Center • 5p
101 E Broad St • Richmond, VA • 804.644.3900
Our therapies rise from a foundation that is historical, social,
African and spiritual.
Talk back led by film maker, Dr. Shawn Utsey
