The Tuscaloosa Heritage Festival, a three-day celebration of diversity and cultural sensitivity, will be held Thursday through Saturday.
Events will include “A Night of Heritage and A Taste of Soul” on Friday at the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy, followed by the “Honoring Our Trailblazers” breakfast Saturday at the McDonald Hughes Community Center.
The festival begins with “The Blackout” on the University of Alabama campus, hosted by the Alabama Student Poetry Association. A banquet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the ballroom of the Ferguson Center will feature six noted poets. At 2 p.m. Friday, a workshop on producing art about hidden histories and social justice will be held in Room 205 of the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, UA students will showcase performance art pieces about UA’s history in the auditorium of the Moody Music Building. For more information about “The Blackout,” go to facebook.com/uaasap.
“A Night of Heritage and Soul” will feature performances by the Westlawn Middle School Choir, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School Steppers and other local youth organizations along with samples of international food. The free event will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at TCTA, 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The “Honoring Our Trailblazers” breakfast will begin at 9:30 a.m. at McDonald Hughes Community Center, 3101 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The event will celebrate Tuscaloosa’s bicentennial and feature performances from Stillman College’s Concert Choir and the University of Alabama’s Afro-American Gospel Choir along with choirs from Central High, Paul W. Bryant High, and Greene County High. The guest speakers will be Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and G. Christine Taylor, UA’s vice president and associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion.
The program will honor past and present community leaders, who will receive the Rev. T.Y. Rogers Jr. Community and Public Service Award.
This event is free, but an admission ticket is required. Visit www.westalabamamulticult.com for more information.
This is the second year of the festival, which is hosted by the West Alabama Multicultural Alliance, Tuscaloosa City Council member Raevan Howard and City Board of Education member Kendra Williams.
