Rita Kabali Wagener. Abiba Biao Photos.
Holding a sponge gourd in her hand, Rita Kabali Wagener had a question for the audience: what was the name of the item?
“A pumpkin,” one person shouted out, relating it back to the pumpkins in his home country of Turkey.
“I want to taste one, then I’ll believe you,” Wanger said, settling the discourse among attendees by revealing the sponge gourd’s purpose as a washcloth.
Dance, music, trivia and artmaking all erupted at New Haven Adult & Continuing Education last week, as students rang out their May multicultural festival with a celebration of African arts and culture in the building’s community room. Organized by Project Museum, a class and “community museum” for students in the center’s High School Credit program, the festival became a chance to fête the diversity of Adult Ed, where students hail from both down the street and halfway across the world.
The two-week festival ran from May 12 - 23 with activities promoting cultural awareness and celebrating students, from a book fair and museum trip to a bike rodeo. Social studies teacher Rohanna Delossantos, who teaches Project Museum, said that the African Cultures Program was especially exciting, as over 130 of Adult Ed’s students hail from the continent. This year, the high school credit program also includes an African studies class.
“We don't get the chance to bring our building together that often,” Delossantos said. “And I think that's also symbolic of the Greater New Haven community, is that we are sometimes siloed off … I wanted to help create a space where we are challenging those blocks that we put up or those walls.”
Wagener, who tours the state teaching people about her Ugandan heritage, said that her favorite part about teaching is seeing the dialogue between people and hearing the questions that inevitably form. Thinking back to her time in college at the University of Alaska, where she was the only person of color in most spaces, Wagener has made it her mission to create spaces for inclusive discourse and cultural connectedness.
“By asking questions, that’s how you get to know about other people instead of just getting your information only from the media,” she said. “Sometimes the media don’t get it right or they just focus on negative things.”
Top: Rohanna Delossantos. Bottom: Natalia Robinson.
That communal spirit was evident across the community room, in activities that ranged from cultural object exhibitions to documentary photography to African dance. At a photography station for Project Museum, student Sahana Hernandez helped fellow students fill out forms to register their cultural belongings.
While her own family hails from Mexico, Hernandez said that she doesn’t know a lot about her culture, because her parents don’t often talk about it. She would like to visit her parent’s hometown in the future, as a way to connect to her roots.
“I find it [the festival] really interesting, especially because everybody could come together and learn more about other people's culture,” she said.
She also highlighted the importance of upkeep of familial traditions and for parents and guardians to teach their culture and traditions to their kids.
“I'm hoping I can discover more about their culture and stuff like that, because different cultures are so beautiful really, and like, it's interesting to know about things that you never knew.”
Project Museum students also get the opportunity to travel to educational field trips, such as the Yale Art Gallery, the Peabody Museum, and the Museum of African American History in Boston.
Currently, Project Museum serves as a digital archive, but Delossantos hopes to expand it in the future by creating a physical showcase of cultural objects and is establishing partnerships with NXTHVN and the Yale Center for British Art.
It wasn’t long before the community room shifted into a dance circle. While students were hesitant at first, Delossantos began passing out conga cloths, inviting anyone bestowed a conga cloth to dance. Students wrapped them around their waists and began participating in the activities.
Teachers, meanwhile, led by example to set the mood. English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Counselor Natalia Robinson couldn’t help but be infected by the groove launching into a shuffle and crowd surrounding into cheers.
With the encouragement of teachers and staff, the dance circle was filled as a medley of African music played with hits like P-Square’s Shekini and Nwa Baby by Flavour.
Reflecting after the event, Robinson said that the dance party served as a release for her. She highlighted the importance of practicing open-mindedness and being receptive to learning different traditions and cultures, advising people to “not be afraid” to put themselves out there.
“It's great to get together and be able to enjoy one another, no matter what culture that you're from, so it was a blessing just to celebrate with one another,” Robinson said.