Afrofest celebrates African culture with record crowd in attendance

With MSU-funded student organizations always on the prowl for new recruits, the vast array of choices to choose from can be dizzying.

But for the wider African population at McMaster, the choice is made easy by the prevalent campus presence of the McMaster African Students Association (MacAfricans).

The association was founded in 2005 and has since grown from its humble roots to boast a nine-person executive committee, as well as a membership of over 150 students who gain access to special perks and events through the payment of an annual fee.

In addition to the executive board, MacAfricans also maintains a two-person committee for Afrofest, their most popular event of the year.

Afrofest is an annual celebration of the diversity of African culture that culminates in a production put on by MacAfricans. While entertaining, the execs also aspire for the event to educate others on the ethnic, economic, and political tensions that grip the continent to this day.

Prior to this year’s event which took place on Mar. 29, Ehima Osazuwa (Special Advisor) and Akinjisola Akinkugbe (Promotion) said they expected a record-breaking crowd.

Following last year’s Afrofest, Osazuwa said planning for the 2014 edition began the very next day. Osazuwa served as the association’s president last year and returned this year to advise the current president, Philip Omorogbe.

Osazuwa said that the strong showing of 650 at last year’s event saw MacAfricans decide to tackle a much bigger stage this year and move the production to Mohawk’s Mcintrye Performing Arts Centre.

The Centre seats just over 1000 and Osazuwa said that approximately 800 of those were filled at the time of this interview on Mar. 27 and even harboured hopes that they would be able to sell out the venue.

At $40 a ticket, drawing such a large crowd was no easy feat especially with cash-strapped students reluctant to part with their hard-earned money. Bearing that in mind, Osazuwa was optimistic and cited the growth in attendance he has been witness to in his years spent as a part of the association.

Other motivation for doling out on a ticket to the event was the fact that the proceeds would be put towards creating a $25,000 scholarship fund for African students at McMaster.

Touching upon what kind of students MacAfricans would be looking to allocate the money too, Osazuwa suggested that they would favour well-rounded individuals over those who only concerned themselves with their studies at the expense of other activities.

“We don’t want to focus just on academics…we want to also focus on those who are interested in Africa and have contributed significantly to anything African-related within their communities.”

Akinkugbe added that details regarding the application process would become available after a committee was struck once the funds were officially reached.

The teaser video released by the group prior to the event revealed that the production would be entitled The Revolution.

Both Osazuwa and Akingube laughed when asked how many hours had been invested by the group to put on The Revolution. While likening the experience to holding down a rigorous part-time job, they both added that it was a project driven by the passion of everyone involved and therefore made the time worthwhile.