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National Museum of African Art - Smithsonian Institution

Kwanzaa Celebration

December 9, 2017
10:20 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Kwanzaa
Photograph by Zama Cook, 2016
Celebrate Kwanzaa, harvest time, and new beginnings at African Art! Discover the festival’s history and themes through art and workshops. A beautiful altar will honor the holiday, the children’s division of the KanKouran West African Dance Company will perform, and museum docents will lead special family tours of the collection. Young visitors will also get the chance to learn their own dance from KanKouran instructors!

10:20 a.m., 12 p.m.
Family tours of the museum’s collection highlighting umoja (unity) in the family and in the community

1–2 p.m.
Interactive teaching session about Kwanzaa, including art, poetry, and a candle-lighting ceremony, led by the African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute (ADACI) and KanKouran Children’s Dance Company

Kwanzaa
Photograph by Zama Cook, 2016
2–3:45 p.m.
Arts and crafts workshop

2:30–3:30 p.m.
Children’s dance workshop led by KanKouran artistic director and co-founder Assane Konte, accompanied by master drummer Baba Joseph Ngwa and lead drummer Roy Horton

4 p.m.
Performance from the children’s division of the KanKouran West African Dance Company

Presented in collaboration with the African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute (ADACI)

Free and open to the public