At a press conference Wednesday, Tom Kornegay, president of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (P.E.C.) shared highlights of the 23rd Annual Zora Neale Hurston Outdoor Festival and formally unveiled the world premier exhibition, “Going to Eatonville.”
“The full exhibition, which opens to the public tomorrow, is a fabulous body of work that is uniquely ours and serves as an integral part of our 2-year program commemorating Eatonville’s 125th Anniversary,” said Kornegay.
Funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation, the exhibition embodies a series of small 4 x 6 inch post cards of scenic Eatonville, as well as depicts special moments.
Resident Curator, Professor Lonnie Graham said, “Going to Eatonville” is unique in that it offers an intricate and intimate view of the community of Eatonville, for the first time.
“In the past, artists have come in and taken very board strokes of the community,” he said. “This time the artists really concentrated on the landscape, on its environment, on the intimate moments that make Eatonville particularly special and makes it a unique community.”
Another signature event planned is the “Yards & Gardens Mobile Tour,” which showcases various landscapes by Eatonville’s community gardeners, that connects the Town’s history to current day practices. This is a special 3-day event which depicts picturesque landscaping shaped by Eatonville’s finest citizens.
A puppet show, to be presented by Heather Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, one of America’s most profound puppeteers, is another standout of this year’s festival. Henson, who produces the annual Orlando Puppet Festival, is the creator of “Panther and Crane,” a drama about preserving the Florida ecosystem in modern times.
Despite being acclaimed as the largest arts and humanities festival in Florida, over the recent past, the Zora Neale Hurston Festival has failed consistently to turn a profit. But this year may be different. Although declining to give figures, Kornegay said, he expected there to be a profit for the first time in four years.
“It’s very important for the growth of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, that we turn it into an economic engine that generates year round support,” he said. With good weather, he very conservatively estimated that attendance at the festival would be “well in excess of 100,000 people.”
N.Y. Nathiri, Director of Multidisciplinary Programs and a long-standing stalwart of the Zora Festival over many years said, she had high expectations, as a number of initiatives had been put in place to boost and enhance the 2012 Festival. These included expanding the outdoor festival hours, focusing particularly on Eatonville as a community, and expanded partnerships, including with UCF.
Wednesday’s press conference was attended by Chester Glover, representing Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL), Orange County Commissioner Fred Brummer  (District 2), City of Orlando representative, Reggie McGill, several board and staff members of P.E.C., representatives from the Town of Eatonville, among others.
The 23rd Annual Zora Neale Hurston Outdoor Festival of the Arts and Humanities will open Friday, January 27 through Sunday, January 29, 2012.
For more information, visit: www.zorafestival.com.
