Museum Opening & Reception •

An Installation Art Exhibition by Betye Saar and Mildred Howard at the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, opening on Saturday January 26, 2008, 6 p.m. Both Saar and Howard are distinguished, award-winning, “eye-catching” artists, who are masters in “making art." Their selected medium for the exhibition is an installation featuring mystical themes. Installation art is a unique artistic genre that even seasoned arts patrons seldom have opportunities to see. The ZORA! Festival audience and subsequent viewers will experience, according to Ms. Howard, how art is made from “myth and ritual, memory and place, religion and family, metaphor and symbolism, music, light, tradition and found objects.” The installation, which will remain in the museum through April 2008, will evoke the vibrancy as captured “in the spirit” of the theme.

A concert performed by hearing-impaired youth.

A cultural tour with stops at the Maitland Art Center, Maitland Historical Society and Museum, The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center, the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, The Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts and other historic Eatonville venues. Box Lunch: $10

Widely known as “the high-priestess” of poetry because of the mythical and musical quality of much of her writing, Sanchez is expected to draw a large audience of devotees who have followed her from her days as one of the Broadside Quartet of young poets and a younger audience who gravitate to her unique poetic style. Reception immediately following.

In Conversation with: Louise Meriwether

In Conversation with Louise Meriwether. A veteran literary voice who was the first Black Story Analyst in Hollywood's history, she is the author of several books including, "Daddy Was A Number Runner". Reception immediately following. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Zora Neale Hurston Arts and Humanities Lecture: CCH Pounder

CCH Pounder, stellar actress of the motion picture screen and television, will deliver the Zora Neale Hurston Lecture on Friday February 1. Ms. Pounder will be a natural draw because of her Emmy nomination for her role in the NBC series ER and her current role in the critically acclaimed FX series, The Shield. The audience will find, however, she has many parallels to Hurston, as evidenced by her genius with the spoken word and her fight against social injustices such as apartheid.

WHAT:  A two-day public forum that brings together high school students from various schools and fosters their interaction with accomplished cultural artists and academicians as well as with their peers.
  
WHY:  To enhance the literacy, creativity, and college preparation of highly-motivated high school students.

WHO:  100 college-bound students who are strong readers, with focus on students in grades 9 –12 enrolled in honors, advanced placement, and International Baccalaureate courses in public, private, parochial, and home schools.

WHEN/WHERE:  Thursday, January 31
                                 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
                                 Macedonia Baptist Church, Eatonville – Lias Hall
                            
                                 Friday, February 1
                                 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
                                

ACTIVITIES:       Walking Tour of Eatonville
                                “Book Talk” – Small group discussion of Hurston novel
                                Zora Neale Hurston Arts and Humanities Lecture
                               Humanities Talks at Rollins College

FOCUS TEXT:   Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

THEME:  “Ritual and Spirituality in the African Diaspora:  An Exploration of the Zora Neale Hurston Legacy”

How does the Young Voices Conference Satisfy the Sunshine State Standards?

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1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Sessions Manager:       Dr. Richard A. Long
                                                   Professor Emeritus
                                                   Emory University
                                                   Atlanta, GA

Panel I Presenters

Dr. Mawuena Logan
University of the West Indies – Mona Campus
Kingston, Jamaica

Title of Paper: —“(Achieving) Immortality: African Epistemology in the Works of Zora Neale Hurston and Maryse Conde”

Dr. Eika Tai
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

Title of Paper:  “Festivals as Ritual Assertions for Sustaining Diaspora Communities:  Comparing Cases in the USA and Japan”

Dr. Jason Young
State University of New York (SUNY)
Buffalo, New York

Title of Paper:  “Mules, Men, and Moses:  The Making of an (African) American Religious Diaspora in Zora Neale Hurston’s Haiti, Jamaica, and the United States”

Friday Session: 
3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.


Panel II Presenters

Dr. Melvin L. Butler
University of Virginia
Charlottesville,Virginia

Title of Paper:  “Contested Boundaries:    Negotiating Music, Ritual, and Identity in
Haiti and Jamaica”

Dr. Stephen D. Glazier
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska

Title of Paper:  “Searching for the ‘Sanctified Church’ in the Caribbean:  Zora Neale Hurston and Spiritual Quest in the Afro-Caribbean Church”

Dr. William P. Mullaney
Chandler-Gilbert Community College - Pecos Campus
Chandler, AZ

Title of Paper:  “Her Eyes Were Watching Katrina: Unnatural Deaths in a Natural Disaster”

Featuring

• East End Youth Talent Stage Competition

• "Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston and Her Eatonville Roots" (museum exhibition): An audio visual exhibition on the writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston and her relationship to her home town, the historic Eatonville community

• ZORA! Literacy Initiative (while supplies last, a free, age appropriate book to children and youths, toddler - age 17)

• ZORA! Health Village -- Blue Cross Blue Shelid of Florida, "Founding Sponsor"

• Children's Corner (hands-on activities for youngsters, pre-K to grade 3)

• Center Stage (performances by local, regional and national acts)

• Food from the kitchens at Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas

• Juried Art Lane (artists with their original artwork in competition for cash prizes)

• Words and Voices

• International Marketplace and MORE

9:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Session Manager:      Dr. Deidre H. Crumbley
                                                Associate Professor
                                                North Carolina State University
                                                Raleigh, North Carolina

Panel III Presenters

Ms. Temitope Adefarakan
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario - Canada

Title of Paper:  “’'At a Crossroads’:  Spirituality and the Politics of Exile:  The Case of the Yoruba Orisa”

Dr. Kevin Meehan
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida

Title of Paper:  “Decolonizing Ethnography:  Spirit Possession and Resistancein
Tell My Horse”

Dr. Stephen L. Selka
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana

Title of Paper:  “Holy War in Brazil?  Evangelicals, Candomblecistas and Social Differentiation in Afro-Brazilian Communities”

$55 (in advance), $60 (at the door), $50 Senior Citizens (55+), $750 Corporate Table of 8

HATitude features:

• High-fashion originals by Harriet Rosebud

• Exclusive unveiling of ZORA! collectible

• Theatrical performance

• Hat stroll

• Elegant brunch and MORE

Featuring Peabo Bryson on Center Stage – 3 P.M.

• East End Youth Talent Stage Competition

• "Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston and Her Eatonville Roots" (museum exhibition): An audio visual exhibition on the writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston and her relationship to her home town, the historic Eatonville community

• ZORA! Literacy Initiative (while supplies last, a free, age appropriate book to children and youths, toddler - age 17)

• ZORA! Health Village -- Blue Cross Blue Shelid of Florida, "Founding Sponsor"

• Children's Corner (hands-on activities for youngsters, pre-K to grade 3)

• Center Stage (performances by local, regional and national acts)

• Food from the kitchens at Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas

• Juried Art Lane (artists with their original artwork in competition for cash prizes)

• Words and Voices

• International Marketplace and MORE

$100 Indvidual, $1500 Corporate Table of 8

ZORA! Festival GALA – “An Evening of High Culture and Fine Dining”

Attire: Black Tie or "African Elegance