The History of The Kuumba Artists Collective of South Florida - Part 2

Kuumba means “creativity” in the Kiswahili language of east and central Africa.
It is one of the Seven principles celebrated each year at Kwanzaa, and year round:
Kuumba - Creativity
“To do always as much as we can, in the way
we can, in order to leave our community more
beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.”
From the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) - Maulana Karenga

The Kuumba Artists Collective began life in 1980, when Mrs. Emily
Barefield, an official with the Florida Department of State, encountered
a little-known but very highly talented group of African American
artists in Quincy, Florida, and realized that surely there must be other
groups like this elsewhere in the state who deserved wider recognition
and support. Through her research, she made contacts with artists in
Tallahassee, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, and later, through Mrs.
Jolita Mitchell, in Miami and in Broward County. Out of this network
was formed the Kuumba Artists Association of Florida, Inc., which
eventually came to be headquartered in Miami, at the historic Miami
Black Arts Workshop in Coconut Grove.

Like the Workshop, the organization’s statewide goals were to heighten
awareness and appreciation of African World Art, to encourage excellence
and maturation of skills (including the mentoring of youth), and
to create economic opportunities for visual artists. To fulfill these
goals, the members often “carried art to the people” through informal
exhibitions, school presentations, streetcorner displays, participation in
festivals and, in Coconut Grove, a façade treatment program to beautify
the community.

Even after the Workshop closed its doors in 1985, Kuumba continued,
organizing and presenting exhibitions at venues in Miami-Dade,
Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and traveling to festivals around
the state, often making new friends and garnering coveted prizes. The
group’s most notable efforts, however, were in Miami, as artists-in-residence
at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (AHCAC) on Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, where numerous memorable exhibitions
have been presented over the years.

This is the foundation for two very significant annual exhibitions in particular in the Center's Amadlozi ("the presence of the Ancestors") Gallery. One is the very
popular annual tribute to deceased Kuumba member Oscar Thomas, an
exhibition of which he would have been proud: the springtime unveiling
of artists' newest works in the heart of the community he loved, and which loved him in return. It is held from April 4 through May 21, the dates of his birth and death. The second is the Annual Kwanzaa Exhibition, which runs from early December through the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, celebrating the spirit of the Seven Principles and providing affordable works for the gift-giving season as well as showcasing original pieces.

Copyright Dinizulu Gene Tinnie All Rights Reserved.