Black Art in America is teaming up with Eatonville’s annual Zora! Festival to raise money in support of the festival and after school educational opportunities for students in kindergarten through the 8th grade. Garden Art for the Soul is the most popular yard art for African Americans, and proceeds from its latest offering, Zora, will benefit both the Zora! Festival and Knowledge Works Learning Academy in Phenix City, Alabama. This benefit fundraiser runs through the month of January 2021.
“We’re excited to be involved,” says artist and founder of Black Art in America Najee Dorsey. “The Zora! Festival does so much good. We can’t wait for this year’s women’s forum and Afrofuturism conference. And we can’t wait to help spread the festival’s footprint. The Knowledge Works Learning Academy is an important part of education in the east Alabama community. Our partnership shows just how powerful it can be when we all work together to build people up.”
The annual Zora! Festival, held in Eatonville, Florida, and this year online, honors the life and work of one of America’s foremost writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston, born in Eatonville in 1891, is the author of four novels, including the iconic “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The festival is organized by the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. “whose mission is to enhance the resources of Eatonville, Florida, hometown of writer, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, who popularized the community as the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States; to educate the public about Eatonville’s historic and cultural significance; and to use the community’s heritage and cultural vibrancy for its economic development.” This year’s conference features a Women’s Forum and an Afrofuturism Conference.
The Knowledge Works Learning Academy, Inc., is a non-profit, education-based entity founded in 2019. They provide critical educational services through an after-school program for students in kindergarten through 8th grades using a charter education basis for subject instruction emphasizing S.T.R.E.A.A.M., an acronym for science, technology, right living, engineering, arts, agriculture and technology.
Black Art in America is the nation’s leading marketplace for African American art. BAIA supports the careers of black artists and engages in scholarly conversations about their work. Garden Art for the Soul, the country’s most popular line of yard art for African Americans, is a BAIA project that helps raise money for community causes.
