The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County's 43rd annual International Folk Festival will offer a hybrid set of free events for viewers from Friday, Sept. 24 onward.
To kick off the International Folk Festival, the Art’s Council will unveil two art displays on Sept. 24 at the 4th Friday, Cool Spring Downtown District’s ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’ feature.
The first art display will be the ‘16ft Earth Ball,’ presenting a photorealistic global view of Earth located downtown in the Arts Center gallery at 301 Hay St.
“While people are attending that, they can participate in our Silent Sound-Off where they can put on their headphones and enjoy the different music from around the world,” said the council’s Director of Marketing, Christy McNeil.
The second art display will be the ‘Unity Mural’ behind Arts Center by artist Marlon Thompson, an art piece that celebrates diverse cultural heritage and illustrates “togetherness” bridging the gap between art and community.
The “Let’s Tour the World Together ... Virtually!” series powered by Piedmont Natural Gas will showcase two virtual celebrations of cultural music and dance as well as international cooking segments.
“Both events will be available to stream starting this Saturday on the Art Council’s Facebook at TheArtsCouncilFAY and their YouTube channel at The Arts Council Of Fayetteville Cumberland County,” McNeil said.
The ‘Cultural Entertainment’ event performances will include Scotland, USA (Street
Dance), Philippines, Ireland, Colombia, Argentina, Hawaii, West Africa, Ukraine, and Mexico, while the cuisine’s event will feature Barbados, Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Belize, and Ghana.
“For the virtual performances we are featuring local cultural groups affiliated with those countries or continents,” McNeil said. “These are some of the folks that do participate in our in-person festival each year, and we went out there and took videos of each of them this year for the virtual component.”
The annual International Folk Festival was cancelled in 2020; the initial plans for the International Folk Festival for 2021 were cancelled due to COVID-19 as well.
McNeil said the council hopes to return with the festival next year, depending on the risks of the pandemic.
For more information about the Arts Council, visit, https://www.theartscouncil.com
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During Shoneman’s tenure, the Cool Spring Downtown District was able to expand their event offerings including their monthly Fourth Friday and Night Circus NYE Spectacular events and advocate for and launch Fayetteville’s social district downtow
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