For more than 60 years, the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) has served its visitors as a means to champion communication, collaboration and understanding between cultures, and remains a hub for connection across and beyond the diaspora, working to preserve Africa’s history and accurately represent the continent.
“I work in an institution that represents Africa, and I think that’s a very unique and privileged position,” Gathoni Kamau, NMAfA’s acting head of visitor experience and engagement, told The Informer. “It’s important to share the heritage, not just with descendants of Africa, but with everybody, just to appreciate the richness of all cultures.”
NMAfa keeps African culture alive outside the continent through consistent programming that educates attendees about different customs through various forms of art. Annual events, such as Teaching Africa Day, which occurred for a 10th year in a row on Sept. 13, were established to increase visitors’ appreciation of Africa and its diaspora through education, artistic showcases and various performances.
Kamau is a Kenyan artist and a graduate from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in sculpture, and always knew she would be an artist from a young age. From the very beginning, she has been focused on providing educational experiences with Teaching Africa Day through different workshops and booths highlighting various forms of African art— from paintings, literature, sculptures and even digital experiences.
The day of cultural immersion originally included programming featuring service providers and educators focusing on students from kindergarten through high school by offering engaging activities pertaining to the event’s different theme each year, teaching attendees about the museum’s collection.
In recent years, Teaching Africa Day organizers have been trying to add more service providers to offer multifaceted enrichment, expanding its target audience to also include college students to broaden the experience.
“My dream would be to see it start with monthly engagement with schools on the continent or nationwide throughout the year, [so] then it culminates in this big Teaching Africa Day,” Kamau told The Informer.
Art, Dance and Technology in Unity
The event’s 10th anniversary was curated under the theme, “Dancing the Message: African Dance as a Language of the Continent and the Diaspora,” featuring a parade of flags, performances from different dance groups, a marketplace, painting, crafts and more.
Mark Balden, whose two daughters were performing with educational organization Kuumba Kids, is adamant about exposing younger generations to Africa and all the nuances of its numerous cultures.
He considers NMAfA as a sacred resource and sees the continent’s art as something that carries profound purpose, as it has and will continue to connect younger generations to their ancestors and the entire African diaspora.
Balden was exposed to all kinds of African art as a child, from carvings to paintings to metalwork, and is doing the same for his children.
“It was just part of the fabric of life that I grew up with, and it is the inheritance that we bequeathed to our children,” Balden told The Informer. “I’m going to make sure they experience their generational wealth in artwork.”
Even though the event’s main program was centered around dance, attendees were exposed to African culture in a plethora of ways, including a booth where they could play around with Udeesa Systemics and Technology– a platform offering technology that creates immersive, interactive and accessible educational content through its use of XR (Extended Reality).
Udeesa’s CEO, Asante Aseidu, founded the company to create a bridge between culture, skill-building and economic participation. The 10th Teaching Africa Day marked the fifth year Aseidu and his team were involved with the event, offering technical support and 360° preservation services to the museum. By doing so, the annual showcase of multicultural connection is captured and shared in ways that extend its impact beyond one day.
“Africa is one of the fastest-growing regions of the global economy, with enormous opportunities emerging as the continent matures,” Aseidu told The Informer. “That’s why days like Teaching Africa Day matter. They show us what’s missing in classrooms and what becomes possible when we tell fuller stories.”
Aseidu has had his fair share of experiences in different higher education environments where institutions boast of their prestige, but overlook Africa’s global impact. He believes it’s not possible to be considered an institution of higher learning without understanding the continent and founded Udeesa to ensure others don’t experience the educational gap he did regarding Africa. Now, he works to provide future generations with context-rich, immersive learning.
Kamau hopes older generations lead by example when it comes to educating younger people about their ancestors, doing whatever they can in their power to equip future generations with the knowledge and education necessary to obtain an accurate and broad understanding of the world as a whole.
“Africa is so misunderstood; there are so many cultures within the continent and within the diaspora,” she said. “You don’t have to be at a museum or national platform. Just make it part of your life. It’s just part of who you are.”
