Come out and enjoy DuSable Museum’s Yanga Fest - its annual celebration of art, music, words and dance which was formerly known as “The Arts & Crafts Festival” Make your way to the beautiful southside of Chicago and the country’s first African American History Museum for “YANGA FEST.” The event which was formerly known as “The Arts & Crafts Festival,” has a new look, a new date and a new focus and will take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 28th and 29th, 2010, to celebrate the opening of the Museum’s newest exhibition, “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present,” and also “Dance Africa Chicago 2010.” The event will take place at the Museum, which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street at South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago….and best of all, it’s FREE! 
There will be a huge vendor marketplace offering handmade crafts, jewelry, dolls, books and clothing. In addition, there will be educational seminars, book signings, affordable outdoor dining, family activities, bike tours, and more.
This annual celebration of art, words, music & dance, has been renamed “Yanga Fest,” and showcases the creativity of African American & Mexican performing artists in the community. For 35 years, the DuSable Museum of African American History has produced and presented a summer festival, which has gained international acclaim by showcasing local and national rising artists in a juried art show. This year, The DuSable expands the Festival and includes the 2010 presentation of DanceAfrica Chicago, in addition to celebrating it’s newest exhibition, “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present.”
“The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present”:
Curated by Sangrario Cruz of the University of Veracruz, and the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Visual Arts Director, Cesareo Moreno, this exhibition through paintings, photographs, lithographs and historical texts, highlights the impact that Africans had on Mexican culture and examines the complexity of race, culture, politics, and social stratification. No exhibition has showcased the history, artistic expressions and practices of Afro-Mexicans in such broad scope as this one, which includes a comprehensive range of artwork from 18th Century Colonial caste paintings to contemporary artistic expressions.
