Silver anniversaries are hard enough to come by in most marriages, so when a relationship lasts 25 years between a festival and a community, it’s cause for celebration.
“I’m getting the feeling that everybody wants to be a part of it this year,” said Perry Ayers, founder of the Colorado Black Arts Festival, which marks a quarter-century in Denver this weekend. “Even if you’re not a vendor or performer or volunteer, folks want to be here.”
Ayers’ event, which he co-founded with his artist brother, Oyedele Oginga, is the state’s largest celebration of African-American culture. Staged for the past few years in City Park, the festival features hundreds of visual artists, vendors, dancers, musicians, films, food offerings and children’s activities.
“I was informed the other day that we’re fortunate enough to have the weekend to ourselves in terms of other festivals — which is good, because this is something for the entire community,” Ayers said. “A lot of events are just tents and stages, but here, there are a lot of hands-on experiences, not just for kids but everybody.”
This year’s theme, “Gifted and Black,” will be rendered with a diverse regional mix of African- American artists. Ayers and his team made a point on the festival’s 25th anniversary to reach out to black communities up and down the Front Range, from Fort Collins to Pueblo, to bolster the number of artists.
He hopes to draw 80,000 people over the event’s three days. During the festival’s mid-’90s heyday, it saw about 100,000 people per weekend, although last year’s attendance was less than half that.
The free event will again include the popular Boogaloo Celebration Parade (think drum and drill teams, themed floats and local personalities), a children’s pavilion, community mural painting and a sculpture garden. Three music stages will present a mix of live gospel, jazz, blues, soul, reggae, world beat, traditional African and hip-hop, in addition to various dance performances.
It’s more than any one person could see or do in a day, but it’s also part of the festival’s drive to remain relevant in a short-attention-span entertainment environment.
Challenges and rewards
“When we first started, in 1986, we could count the (other) festivals on two hands,” Ayers said. “Now competition is intense in terms of getting your event sponsored. If you’re not at the forefront, you get left out.”
Most nonprofit arts organizations are used to furious fundraising and the roller coaster of public interest. But Ayers’ challenge is compounded by metro Denver’s — and Colorado’s — relatively small black population (11 percent and 4 percent, respectively, according to recent census numbers).
The festival has migrated over the years, from City Park to Sonny Lawson Park to Caldwell Plaza in Five Points to the lawn at East High School and then back to City Park.
Corporate and institutional support has fluctuated so wildly that Ayers has continually dialed down his budget expectations. He would like to have had $250,000 to stage this year’s fete; he’ll make do with about $60,000.
“With us, man, $3,000 is like $10,000 in terms of how we use that and manipulate those dollars to satisfy our needs,” he said.
Ayers, 59, retains a passion for the all-volunteer event but would still like to pass the torch to a young, energized organizer — just not at the expense of watching his flame wink out.
Successes and triumphs
For all its behind-the-scenes drama, the festival has seen public successes and creative triumphs over the years.
A surprise visit by Muhammad Ali in 1994 caused a stir among festivalgoers as he took the stage to say a few words and stayed to sign autographs. A diplomatic and artistic contingent from Kenya in 1996 brought some full-circle cultural perspective to the event.
And this year, Ayers will celebrate Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s 40th anniversary (he was a performer with that Denver institution in the 1970s).
The fact that Ayers is single and childless has allowed him to spend most of his time on the festival, between consulting for other nonprofit arts organizations and festivals around town.
Regardless of his festival’s financial health, he’s deeply concerned about keeping it arts- centered and friendly to grassroots, noncorporate interests — which doesn’t always jibe with his fundraising pursuits.
“It’s been my greatest fear that one of these times, I come out here and see carnival rides,” he said. “We need those extra dollars but don’t want to get away from that emphasis on visual and performing art. . . .
“I think about how we do what we do, with what we have, and I think, ‘Oh man, that’s a little bit of a miracle.’ “
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
