Waterford Cultural Quarter (WCQ) hosted Africa day 2018 on O’Connell Street on Friday June 15th. This wonderful vibrant event celebrates the links between the African nations and Ireland each year.
The highlights of the Africa Day were captured in this video above (video sponsored by and courtesy of Waterford Cultural Quarter and the Integration and Support Unit)
The theme of this year’s celebrations was “The Sights of Africa” which included an outdoor screening of the film ”the Lion King”, an authentic African street market exhibiting various distinctive culture, offering food, spices, henna painting, fashion and other crafts, as well as two stages offering a mix of traditional African and western music. A dedicated children’s zone provided face painting, balloons, crafts and a mobile zoo.
The event was managed and run by the African communities, with coordination by the Integration and Support unit and support by Waterford City and County Council (Community Department) and Waterford Cultural Quarter.
The event was launched by the Mayor of the Metropolitan District, Cllr Seán Reinhardt. Key speakers included Dauda Abdul Ganiyu, Chairman of the Irish Multicultural Group; Osas Usideme, Africa Day Planning Committee, Sarah Jane Hanton, Creative Spirits Ambassador and Ryan Ellory, United for Human Rights.
Waterford Cultural Quarter is delighted to work with the African nations in Waterford, and particularly those living and working in the O’Connell Street area. A key element of the WCQ vision is inclusivity and Africa Day fully embraces this ideal. In his speech, Dauda Abdul Ganiyu remarked on this relationship and noted that “the Cultural Quarter is a good concept, and a huge opportunity towards the empowerment, development, and growth of micro-entrepreneurs from different cultural backgrounds. I call on all Africans and other cultures in this community to make the best use of the opportunities appropriately. This will not only strengthen the integration process that we are seeking, but will also harness the strength in the diversity of our different cultures. Cultural Quarter is our own; let us avail of these rare opportunities.”
Video created and produced by T1 photography.
