The third annual Aurora Black Arts Festival will from now on be known as the Festival for the People, the event’s promoter said.
The festival, which takes place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Fletcher Plaza, is taking on a new social conscience.
“We were trying to figure out a way to bring people together, to make it for the people,” said the festival’s organizer, Day Acoli.
While the event is still a place for local artists and vendors to show case their work and sell goods, this year there will be more focus on community issues that affect all cultures, Acoli said.
A lot of people are fearful of coming to an event termed a cultural event, because it doesn’t feel inclusive. But everyone faces the same issues, she said.
One of Day’s goals is to make the festival a place to facilitate conversations and come up with solutions. “A lot of us have no concept what is going on in our community,” she said.
Everyone who attends can help paint murals, where they can express how things like gangs have affected them. “The artists are the people who are attending,” she said.
Keeping true to its grass-roots approach, the festival will showcase an array of underground artists from Denver and around the country.
Cee Knowledge (of Digable Planets) and The Cosmic Funk Allstars, of Philadelphia, PA will be on the main stage Saturday at 4 p.m., and Davu, a spoken word artist from Oakland, CA will be on stage Sunday at 3:50 p.m.
This isn’t the kind of music you will find on MTV, said Euda Green of Justice Osiris and Co., who brought the groups to Denver.
“These aren’t people trying to make a quick buck,” she said. “All of these people are pretty broke and they’re getting on stage to share their art.”
That speaks true of the event itself.
Booth rentals are kept low — vendors only pay what it takes to keep the festival afloat — so it’s accessible to those in the community, Acoli said.
“It’s about showcasing the little people,” she said. “The idea is for everybody to come, for everybody to be included.”
For more information call 303-350-0460.
Staff writer Simona Gallegos can be reached at 303-954-1555 or at sgallegos@denverpost.com.
