{"id":9913,"date":"2019-04-18T23:23:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T23:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=9913"},"modified":"2019-04-18T23:23:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T23:23:07","slug":"activism-the-focus-of-13th-annual-creative-arts-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2019\/04\/18\/activism-the-focus-of-13th-annual-creative-arts-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Activism, the focus of 13th Annual Creative Arts Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kayla Sims<\/strong><\/p>\n

MC301\/Staff Writer\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Kevin Powell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jackson State University\u2019s Margaret Walker Center hosted the 13th<\/sup>Annual Creative Arts Festival on April 12-13. The theme of this year\u2019s conference was, \u201cArts and Activism\/Activism as Art.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Creative Arts Festival was free and open to students, faculty and people within the Jackson community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The festival kicked off with a film screening and viewing of \u201cI Too Am Mississippi, Breaking the Silence on Trans Harassment and Discrimination through Narrative Change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Diana Marshall, a transgender woman who is a native of Jackson Miss., explained the struggles she faces as an African-American transgender woman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThis festival is truly an amazing experience for me. I am a black transgender woman and I am happy to see people like myself getting recognition, especially in one of the most conservative states in the country. Every day it is a constant struggle with not only being transgender, but also being black and Jackson State\u2019s Walker Center has done a great job with this year\u2019s festival,\u201d said Marshall.<\/p>\n

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Participants and attendees also viewed the screening of\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Hello Girls\u201d and exchange dialogue on the presentation with JSU alum, James Theres.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jamie Holden, a senior graphic design major from Senatobia, Miss., expressed the joy she felt in listening to the dialogue about the film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy to be a part of this. The conversation was honest and open and I am grateful that I had a chance to listen to the variety of opinions,\u201d said Holden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The festival was anchored towards different genres of art such as visual arts, poetry\/spoken word, performing arts and written art with featured presentations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saturday morning, the student presentations began in the JSU Student Center and in Ayer Hall.<\/p>\n

Students who entered their submissions had the opportunity to win theMargaret Walker Alexander Annual Award.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The festival came to a close with a photography display opening of \u201cEverywhere with Roy Lewis\u201d in the Johnson Hall art gallery.<\/p>\n

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Kayla Monroe, a junior English major from Jackson, Miss., spoke about her presentation within the festival.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis for me was a once in a lifetime experience. I am proud to share my writing with the professionals. The feedback I received has been helpful and I had the opportunity to network with people who are doing what I want to do in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mississippi native and comic writer, Jesse Holland, was a keynote speaker at the Creative Arts Festival.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Haywood, a freshman criminal justice major from Chicago Ill., stated the impact that Holland had on his life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe really inspired me and after hearing him talk, I am considering changing my major,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0said Haywood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author, activist, and producer Kevin Powell was also a participant in the festival.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Powell spoke about the challenges he faced growing up, his experience in life and some of the work he has done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jaquori Wilson, a senior history major from Jacksonville Fla., was encouraged by the words from Powell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe things he spoke about touched me dearly because I can relate to his experiences, especially growing up. I am a student at Tougaloo College, and when I found out Kevin Powell was speaking, I knew I had to come. He is an inspiration to me because he has work with some of the greatest people of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The festival came to an end with Powell delivering the closing remarks and the announcement of the winners of the Phi Alpha Theta Award for the Best History Paper.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The winner of the $1,000 Margaret Walker Award for the best essay \u201con the black experience in the American South,\u201d was also announced. The 1st<\/sup>place prize went to Nakiya Beamon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kayla Sims MC301\/Staff Writer\u00a0 Jackson State University\u2019s Margaret Walker Center hosted the 13thAnnual Creative Arts Festival on April 12-13. The theme of this year\u2019s conference was, \u201cArts and Activism\/Activism as Art.\u201d   The Creative Arts Festival was free and open to students, faculty and people within the Jackson community.   The festival kicked off with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-variety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}