The Boston University Howard Thurman Center was filled with singing, dancing, poetry and traditional New Orleans cuisine Tuesday afternoon at CréoleFest, a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief.
The African American Studies Program hosted the event, bringing together more than 100 members of the university community and raising several hundred dollars for the Salvation Army, the NAACP and the United Methodists Coalition for Hurricane Relief.
African American Studies professor Linda Heywood said she conceived the idea for a celebration of Créole culture and collection of funds for those who had experienced Hurricane Katrina soon after it hit the Louisiana coast.
“I grabbed people as I found them,” she said of the performers and participants in CréoleFest. She said the event was an attempt to make the university “visible in humane efforts” and to “broaden the appeal of African American studies.”
Heywood said she organized the event in three weeks and expected the highlight of the program to be a performance by members of the Harmony Theatre Company, a professional dance troupe from New York City.
The group performed a dance about a community flourishing after a storm, which was accompanied by music the show Once on this Island.
Audience members joined Michael Booth and Cheryl Boots, both College of General Studies assistant professors, in singing folk duets. They encouraged their audience to join in with the chorus of a song, Hallelºujah, the Great Storm is over. Lift up your wings and fly.
Marsh Chapel Associate Dean Rev. Sakena Young-Scaggs also led the room in song. Following the performances, Rev. Scaggs, a Boston University alumna, said rhe fest came together, describing the cultural program as “moving, passionate, compassionate.”
College of Communication senior Karlis Bryan said she liked the reading done by several graduate students in the AAS program.
Students Monet Cooper, Elizabeth Erdmann, Helen Hwang and Clint Owens wove together excerpts from online posting websites made following the hurricane.
“We’re survivors because we’re all here to tell the story,” Cooper said before the reading.
BU Caribbean Club president Natasha Noel said the reality of the hurricane did not hit her immediately, adding that it”wasn’t real to me” at first. But, she said she has since felt moved to mobilize her organization for the aid of New Orleans.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore spoke to the group of the “pluralism” in America “that got its roots in this country by looking down South.”
He said that “amidst the celebration we have a lot of work to do … do something about poverty … racism … environmental concerns.”
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