Kati Garner headline-42717 2010-12-28T00:02:41Z 2010-12-28T00:02:41Z <p> <strong>Over 2,000 people celebrated the Kwanzaa Family Festival at the Crocker Art Museum yesterday, the first day of Kwanzaa.</strong></p> <p> <strong>Kwanzaa, honored</strong> <strong>worldwide, focuses on family, community, creativity, and the cultural traditions found in the African diaspora.</strong></p> <p> <strong>The Crocker celebrated its new collection of African art with music and dance performances by Umoja, Afia Walking Tree and Spirit Drumz, PROJECT, Phoenix Park Multicultural Kids Choir.&nbsp; There was storytelling by Culture Co-op and a special puppet production, “Hamissi the Brave.”</strong></p> <p> <strong>Here's some of the festivities:</strong></p> <p> <strong>A little girl dancer mimics the moves of the older dancers moving to the beat of drums.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> <strong>Umoja Productions presented African Drumming and Dance.</strong></p> <p> <strong>The audience clapped along with the beats provided by the drummers.</strong></p> <p> <strong>Phoenix Park Multicultural Kids Choir performed, using the second floor as the stage, above the audience seated inside Friedman Court.</strong></p> <p> <strong>The Ballroom on the second floor of the historic Crocker provided performances by Puppets in Motion presenting Hamissi the Brave and Storytelling with Culture Co-op (above and below).</strong></p> <p> <strong></strong></p> <p> <strong>Free Airbrush Tattoos in the Studio Art Spaces were a big hit with the children.</strong></p> <p> <strong>The &quot;Mud Cloth Madness&quot; exhibit, organized by The Kuumba Collective Art Gallery. is slated to run through February. It is a contemporary art exhibit using the ancient African fabric as a inspiration tool to create (above and below)</strong>.</p> <p> <strong></strong></p> <p> <strong>Delgreta Brown, a Sacramento Press contributor, is a featured artisit of this exhibit.</strong></p> <p> <strong>Interactive art was part of the Kwanzaa Festival, part of the museum-wide experience of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.</strong> <strong>Read about the seven principles - <a href="http://www.holidays.net/kwanzaa/principles.htm" target="_blank">CLICK HERE&gt;&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p> <p> <strong>African diaspora cooking demonstrations were presented by Queen Sheba Restaurant and the Crocker Cafe.</strong></p> <p> <strong>A fashion show drew a big crowd (above and below).</strong></p> <p> <strong></strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> <strong>The event was sponsored by Target and presented in collaboration with the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum and the Kuumba Collective Art Gallery.</strong></p> <p> <strong>For more information about Crocker Art Museum, <a href="http://crockerartmuseum.org/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE&gt;&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p> <p> <strong>SacPress Photos | Kati Garner</strong></p> Kati Garner 2010-12-28T00:02:41Z