FRIDAY, 13 AUGUST 2004
401 National Museum of African Art Celebrates Silver
Anniversary
(Smithsonian Institution plans year-long celebration) (580)
402 Organization Seeks Increased Youth Participation in Politics
(Director discusses outreach activities with Palestinian audience) (1150)
*AEF401 08/12/2004
National Museum of African Art Celebrates Silver Anniversary
(Smithsonian Institution plans year-long celebration) (580)
By Brian Kaper
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- One of the most important U.S. institutions in the preservation of African culture and history will reach a milestone on August 13, as the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art enters its 25th year. The museum's silver anniversary will be observed through a series of planned festivities and new attractions in the coming months.
The celebration will begin with a "Community Day" on September 18. Visitors will be given the chance to sample unique African foods, and entertainment will include native music, dance and games. Various storytellers will also be on hand to bring a sense of African culture to revelers.
Sharon Patton, director of the National Museum of African Art, is looking forward to the events that will mark the museum's anniversary. Among the highlights for the commemoration will be the opening of the newest exhibit, "Treasures." The showcase is scheduled to premier November 19, and will include sculptures and masks.
"[The National Museum of African Art] will be using the exhibition ‘Treasure' as a kickoff for the anniversary. There will be 74 sculptures on display, including some 50 from private collectors. Several pieces have never before been seen, and for some it will be the first such showing in seventeen years," she said.
In keeping with the anniversary's chronological namesake, an exhibition comprised of silver artifacts, including jewelry and sculptures, titled "The Art of the Personal Object," will open to the public at a later date. A film series, showcasing Africa, is also planned.
The upcoming features will be the latest in a history of vibrant exhibits at the African Art Museum. Beginning in 1979, when the museum was integrated into the Smithsonian, the National Museum of African Art has showcased master Yoruba carver Olowe of Nigeria; Ethiopian icons from the 17th through 19th centuries; and Sue Williamson's acclaimed exhibit, "Last Supper Revisited."
Patton feels that the marriage of the National Museum of African Art with the Smithsonian has made it possible for the museum to host some of these exceptional exhibits.
"This alliance has led to a recognition of African contributions to art and history. This recognition has allowed us to gain access to works owned by private collectors. Pieces owned by collectors are sometimes items that may not have been seen by the public in 10 or 20 years, or not seen in the United States at all," Patton said.
Although the facility will be celebrating its 25 years as a member of the Smithsonian, it has only been located on the National Mall since 1987. Prior to the passage of the 1979 Congressional act to add the Museum of African Art to the Smithsonian, it was based in a Capitol Hill townhouse formerly owned by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, known then as the Center for Cross Cultural Communication.
Patton said her staff is continuing to work on ways to improve the museum. Under consideration are an expansion of the museum's website, as well as ways of further utilizing technology to enhance programming. Recent renovations have also been completed to allow patrons a better viewing experience of the exhibits.
Patton summed up the thought process that has allowed the museum to become one of the world's premier facilities dedicated to African art and culture. "We need to preserve the past to understand the present and to help us move into the future."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF402 08/12/2004
Organization Seeks Increased Youth Participation in Politics
(Director discusses outreach activities with Palestinian audience) (1150)
By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The 2004 U.S. presidential elections may prove to be as close as the preceding elections in 2000, with every demographic group having the potential to play the pivotal role in selecting the next occupant of the White House.
Often overlooked by both the media and the political parties, the group consisting of 18- to 30-year-olds could potentially account for 50 million votes this November. But according to Veronica De La Garza, the Executive Director of the Youth Vote Coalition (YVC) in Washington, youth participation in the U.S. political system has been steadily declining.
De La Garza spoke August 10 via digital video conference (DVC) from Washington to Palestinian audiences in Gaza and Ramallah, including students, university officials and representatives from non-governmental organizations specializing in young people and youth education.
The DVC gave the Palestinian participants an opportunity to learn about how YVC is seeking to increase the participation of American youth in politics. It also allowed them to compare the group's activities to their own efforts to politically empower Palestinian young people.
According to De La Garza's presentation, the political participation of American youth has been caught in a vicious circle. Most 18- to 30-year-olds believe politicians do not care about them or their issues, she said. Therefore they do not bother to vote. Their lack of participation, in turn, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since the politicians do not reach out to young people, preferring instead to focus their time and resources towards groups that are more likely to decide the outcome of an election.
"Unfortunately, since [18-year-olds] received the right to vote in 1971, during every presidential election we have voted in smaller numbers," she said. "The way we are addressing this is by working with both young people and with politicians."
Based in Washington, YVC (http://www.youthvote.org) is a non-partisan coalition of approximately 100 organizations that work with young people in different capacities, ranging from those with an environmental or educational focus to those which reach out to specific demographic groups, such as the League of Women Voters Education Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
YVC registers people to vote, educates them on the issues and reminds them to make their voices heard in upcoming elections. At the same time, De La Garza said, the organization conducts surveys to find out the issues of concern to them. Those surveys are then made available to political parties, the media and elected officials.
"We share with them the issues that young people are concerned about and we ask them to respond. That way, elected officials see the importance of young people and are also answering their questions and concerns," she said. As a measure of success, De La Garza pointed out that both the Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns now have staff reaching out to young people.
De La Garza said the organization has set a goal of registering 20 million young people to vote in November's presidential elections. The most important factor in motivating them to vote, she said, is to teach them why politics is important and how it affects their everyday lives.
"Many times young people are unaware that politics decides if they're safe on their streets, if they're going to have enough to eat, how they're going to go to school, and how their family is living ... So it's making the connection of politics and personal," she said.
The September 11 terrorist attacks upon New York and Washington also helped to raise political interest, she said. After the attacks, "young people in the U.S. were shocked more than anything," she said. However, many of them still do not see "the connection of what happened on September 11 and voting."
"Most people in the United States start getting politically involved once they realize how politics affects them. In the past, people did not realize until they were older. Currently, that is changing very fast because our young men are fighting in wars and are protecting our country. They're realizing it's becoming a lot more personal, so young men are starting to get more involved," she said.
De La Garza's audience asked for her advice on how young Palestinians should cope with their own political frustrations in the occupied territories. She told them to try to get more involved in the political system and to work directly with their local political parties.
"[A]s a young person, the more you get involved, the more they'll start to listen to what you have to say," she said. "But you have to get involved."
Like American youth, Palestinian young people should try to get their friends involved in politics, she said, but at the same time they must recognize that it can be a slow process requiring patience and perseverance. She remarked that Youth Vote Coalition, which now registers millions of people to vote, started off by only registering dozens of young people.
One official from Bethlehem University asked De La Garza how to encourage greater women's participation in local politics, such as student senate elections. The official said that while the young women seemed to support the elections, they also faced certain societal pressures not to participate.
De La Garza first congratulated the official for seeking to encourage women's participation, saying the official was teaching important lessons in leadership by getting them involved in politics at a young age and was "creating an awareness of how important for them to be politically involved is."
She advised the official to find women role models who will encourage female participation in politics, can answer their questions, and will "continue telling them how much change they have created and how they are deciding so many important factors and unless they continue this, they are going to stop contributing to their welfare."
De La Garza said many countries, including the United States, are still working to end paternalism in their societies and pointed out that organizations were created in the U.S. to support women by providing them a safe place to meet and share ideas, as well as inform the larger society of the importance of women's political participation.
Throughout her presentation, De La Garza sought to impress upon her audience the importance of becoming politically aware and involved, regardless of citizenship.
"If you don't get involved in politics, then no one is going to pay attention ... Unless you're voting and get politically active, you're not going to make change," she said. "Young people in the United States are aware that there are a lot of problems with our political system, but if they complain and don't vote, or don't run for office, nothing is going to happen."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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