A special feature of the annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival is the Kid’s Tent which provides hands-on-art activities for young people at the festival site on Saturday, August 26, 2023. The Kid’s Tent will welcome young people on the festival grounds (the Thomas Gilmore Courthouse Square – old courthouse square in Eutaw) to participate in the various hands-on-arts activities beginning at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 26, 2023. The Kid’s Tent will be located on the Northern area of the town square.
Greene County artist, Mynecia Steele, will lead the youth activities engaging them in creative exercises including drawing, painting, face painting and more. The participating youth will take home their creations as well as additional art supplies.
Ms. Steele is a published author and graphic artists who will also have a selection of her works for display and sale at the festival. Her various children’s books, themed posters and myriad creations have become treasured items locally as well as throughout the worldwide web, under her brand This is Myne Design.
A new feature of the Kid’s Tent will include pottery making, led by artist Kaitlin Whittle, an artist currently living in Eutaw, Alabama working primarily in graphite, oil paint, and clay. Ms. Whittle will engage the youth in the basic process of working with clay, guiding them to create their own products. Hopefully, at the close of the day, the participating young people will have small clay pots to take home.
Ms. Whittle has taught formally in the K-12 school systems of Georgia and Alabama and in smaller, less formal art programs.
A culminating event for the youth and others at the annual festival will be the presentation of an African Drum Line led by cultural artist LaVondia Bryant Smith of Birmingham, Founder/Artistic Director of Nathifa Dance Company & Outreach Inc. She is a professional dancer and choreographer in West African dance and Modern dance. Her closing presentation will instruct and engage the young people in the role and significance of the drums, specifically in African Cultures.