by Fern Gillespie
For 53 years, the International African Arts Festival (IAAF) has welcomed attendees from Brooklyn and beyond for a festive summer celebration of culture and the arts from the African Diaspora. Unfortunately, this cultural mainstay in Brooklyn is now seeking a new location.
The International African Arts Festival has been notified by NYC Parks that Commodore Barry Park, its home for 22 years, will not be available in 2025 due to a renovation project.
“We were told that this is the last year that we would be able to use the park,” Dr. Segun Shabaka, the chair and founding executive board member of the International African Arts Festival, told Our Time Press. “We won’t be able to use the park after it’s renovated.”
Yesterday, NYC Parks confirmed Dr. Shabaka’s announcement to Our Time Press.
IAAF, just held from July 4 – 7, is the largest Pan-African festival in New York. It spans a dedicated children’s play zone, captivating poetry, fashion shows, chess tournaments, African-inspired goods and cuisine, African dance performances, fashion, lectures, workshops and more.
“It’s free and accessible, family-oriented, intragenerational, inexpensive and positive in every aspect,” said Dr. Shabaka. “It brings in patrons, artists, vendors and entertainers from all over the world. People love the positive vibes.”
For 35 years, the IAAF has held the annual Symposium on Culture, Community and Struggle in conjunction with the National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO), which is chaired by Dr. Shabaka. This year’s issues included culture, housing crisis, social change, and youth with panelists like African artist Damion Soul and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
“We must celebrate, but we must also work to transform ourselves and society,” explained Dr. Shabaka. “The symposium is very much in line with what the festival is about. It’s about raising the consciousness of our community and people.”
Brooklyn-born Dr. Shabaka has been a Pan-African activist since he was a student at Boy’s High. After high school in 1971, while attending Brooklyn College, he assisted The East as a worker and volunteer at the first International African Arts Festival and is listed as a founding member.
“My vision coming out of high school was aligned with The East. That’s why I volunteered there,” he said. “I had studied Swahili in high school and I had studied African history and culture. I was already a Pan-African student.”
As a scholar, Dr. Shabaka was mentored by Dr. Maulana Karenga, who developed the Kawaida philosophy, the foundation of Nguzo Saba and the Kwanzaa principles of Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).
“Kawaida is the foremost philosophy of Black Power and Pan-Africanism in this country,” he explained. “For those people that were around in the 1960s and early 70s, that was the philosophy upon which the major Black Power leaders and institutions grounded themselves. Amiri Baraka, Jitu Weusi, Haki Madhubuti, and others used that philosophy to build independent black institutions, that service struggle and programs.”
Kwanzaa is one of the cultural key outreaches for Dr. Shabaka. As the chair of the New York National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO), he is promoting Kwanzaa in the metro area. “Kwanzaa is growing by leaps and bounds across the globe.
There are countries that are celebrating Kwanzaa,” he said. “It speaks to African people with the need to feel spiritually, culturally, historically and ethically. Kwanzaa is here to stay and growing.”
Working on his doctorate at Temple University, Dr. Shabaka uncovered an historic connection between Black Americans and Haiti. “I did my dissertation on the African-American migration to Haiti from 1824 to 1825. The movement of 13,000, some people believe it’s more, to Haiti,” he explained. “It was Pan-African and run by Black people here and in Haiti.
About 500 had been freed by the Quakers. There were AME church people. Some of them were supposed to be enslaved, but they escaped to the north. These are the kinds of stories that we should be teaching our children.”
A veteran frontline Black Historian, specializing in African American and Pan-African history, Dr. Shabaka is disturbed by the conservative movement to destroy or “whitewash” Black History classes in schools. “It’s part of a campaign on society where they don’t want to see and have our story told. Black History gives you a realistic view of American society.
They don’t want Black people to tell their story because they say it makes their children feel bad. Our children have been feeling bad for centuries,” he said. “Black people need to come up with a counter to this campaign. To be vigilant. The Black church and Mosques and other institutions have to teach our stories, and tell the truth in different after-school programs, so that these young people get a sense of who they are.”
To give people the opportunity to visit African Diaspora nations, over 30 years ago he established Pyramid Productions, a travel and consulting firm. He coordinates cultural tours to Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Currently, he’s organizing upcoming trips during 2024 and 2025 to South Africa, Tanzania, Cuba, and Senegal.
Right now, he’s on a mission to find a new Brooklyn home for the 2025 International African Arts Festival. “This 53-year-old institution has bought some of the best programming to this borough, city and country and to low-income communities. We deserve more support than we’re getting in this effort to find a new home. There are not a lot of events that you can go to for free that offer this type of programming,” said Dr. Shabaka.
“We are planning on coming back next year and we want people to keep checking out our website for updates on our plan of action.”
For more information on the International African Arts Festival, contact https://www.iaafestival.org/