Register for ZIMFEST – Corvallis, OR – Aug 20-22

The new ZimFest registration site, http://2010.zimfest.org/, is in full swing and getting rave reviews!

"Very nice job on the registration website, it works great and it's easy to use! I especially like how you can view the workshops in several ways, like clicking on the teacher and seeing what classes he/she teaches." ~Doug Epps

Wonderful workshops and captivating classes are open and waiting for your registration!

• Move your body in a Zimbabwean dance class offered by Julia Chigamba, Lora Chiorah-Dye, or Lucky Moyo.
• Don’t miss Chris Berry's Advanced Marimba Composition class on Sunday.
• Joel Laviolette, who does not make it this far west very often, is offering classes on Matepe mbira, Sungura style guitar, and Nyanga panpipe music!
• How about a Renold Shonhai or Caution Shonhai workshop? A great way to meet Zimbabweans new to this venue is to take one of their classes.

Join the Thursday Evening Opening Ceremony and Concert on August 19, featuring the dedication and blessing of ZimFest 2010 by our elders and performances by Kudana Marimba and other regional marimba groups!

Mark Your Calendars!

Planning is well underway for Zimfest 2010, the largest gathering of Zimbabwean music fans in North America, which will take place over the weekend of August 20-22, 2010 on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, US. The OSU campus located in the “heart of the Willamette Valley” will provide a low cost, close in, extended family feel for Zimfest 2010. Double occupancy rooms in dormitories will be under $50 per person including 3 meals. The outdoor concerts and marketplace will be created in large field directly across from the dorms. Evening concerts will be staged in a brand new, state of the art performance hall. And most importantly, we will welcome many old and new friends to attend workshops, to teach to perform and to hang out together!

Mark your calendars now to attend Zimfest 2010, “Timeless Rhythms: Deep Roots, Many Branches”.

Please visit this blog often or go to www.zimfest.org to keep informed of upcoming announcements about teachers, performers, workshops and date the registration guide will go online. For more information contact 2010@zimfest.org

Zimfest 2010 Artwork Contest - Submissions Due Soon

The Zimfest 2010 organizing committee invites you to submit designs and artwork for use on Zimfest 2010 poster, t-shirts and other promotional material. We would like submissions to be related to the theme of "Timeless Rhythms." Additionally, we suggest "Deep Roots, Many Branches" and "2010: A Musical Odyssey" as possible avenues of expression for this theme.

Please submit your designs electronically at 2010@zimfest.org by February 1, 2010 after reading the legal information at the end of this email. The organizing committee will make its selections by March 1, 2010. In general, Zimfest is not able to reimburse artists for the use of their submission. However, if your design is chosen as the headlining design for this year's festival, you will receive $100 as well as free tickets to the evening concerts at Zimfest 2010. In addition, full credit will be given to other artists whose submissions are used elsewhere.

Legal information: By submitting your work to 2010@zimfest.org, you grant
the Zimfest Association an irrevocable, perpetual license to reproduce the
submitted work in whole or in part in any medium, electronic, physical or
otherwise.

Zimfest calendar

At the last meeting of the organizing committee, we finalized the dates for these events:

November 15: Teacher and Performer applications released
February 1: Teacher applications due
March 1: Performer applications due
March 15: Registration guide published
April 20: Registration system becomes active

You can expect the performer and teacher applications to be similar to those for Zimfest 2009.

Zimfest 2010

Welcome to the official blog of the Zimfest 2010 organizing committee! In this blog, Zimfest-related announcements will be posted regularly, and committee-members will contribute updates about their current work.

The most pressing announcement:

Zimfest 2010 will be held Friday, August 20th–Sunday August 22nd on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR.

Before I go into any more detail, however, I would like to introduce the organizing committee:

• Alex Weeks: Organizer, site manager
• Michael Beardsworth: Concert coordinator
• Marilyn Kolodziejczyk: Zimbabwean guest coordinator
• Gary Spalter: Finances
• Paul Mataruse: Registration & festival guides
• Mark Hoskins: Workshops, registration
• Guy Tauscher: Communications, teacher coordinator
• Lynne Swift: Marketplace coordinator

This year's organizing committee is composed of experienced Zimfest organizers and Zimbabwean music community-participants as well young—but no less interested—members (myself included). I wish to extend my gratitude to each of the committee-members for volunteering their time and skills to make this possible.

In the next few weeks, the organizing committee will post a calendar that outlines teacher and performer application date, as well as information about when registration materials will be published. To stay informed, check this blog frequently, as new festival information will be posted here as it becomes available. Additionally, you may check the Zimfest Association website, or the Zimfest 2010 Website (when it becomes operational).

It is our hope that this blog will make the organization process a little more transparent, and to this end, we encourage you to use the comment system—we will be monitoring it.

Thank you, and I hope to see you next summer
-Alex Weeks