"CréoleFest Celebrates Gulf Culture"
By Stephanie Perry
Excerpted from The Daily Free Press
September 28, 2005
The Boston University Howard Thurman Center was filled with singing, dancing, poetry and traditional New
Orleans cuisine Tuesday afternoon at CréoleFest, a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief.
The African American Studies Program hosted the event, bringing together more than 100 members of the
university community and raising several hundred dollars for the Salvation Army, the NAACP and the United
Methodists Coalition for Hurricane Relief.
African American Studies professor Linda Heywood said she conceived the idea for a celebration of Créole culture
and collection of funds for those who had experienced Hurricane Katrina soon after it hit the Louisiana coast.
"I grabbed people as I found them," she said of the performers and participants in CréoleFest. She said the event
was an attempt to make the university "visible in humane efforts" and to "broaden the appeal of African American
studies."
Heywood said she organized the event in three weeks; the highlight of the program was a performance by members
of the Harmony Theatre Company, a professional theatre troupe from New York Citty. Jenn Lopez, a resident
artist with the company, choreographed the piece.
The group performed a dance about a community flourishing after a storm, which was accompanied by music the
show Once on this Island.