Swahili word brings new life

The word Kuumba is more than a Swahili word for creativity. For the FAMU community it means Kuumba Fest 2003.

Kuumba fest, a joint venture of Comcast cable, Showtime and FAMU, will be celebrated Tuesday on FAMU’s campus.

The festival begins at 10 a.m., and will showcase some of the most talented students displaying their art, music and creativity.

According to Alison Hall, the public relations chair of the event, the primary focus of the event is to expose students to different creative outlets.

“We want to inspire the students to tap into their creative sides and use that to make the community better,” Hall said.

There will be several televison networks in attendance to help celebrate Kuumba Fest . Networks will include TBS, MTV and E!

Major networks such as HBO and Showtime will premiere original movies and new shows.

Showtime will use the opportunity to premiere the new season of the hit show “Soul Food.” HBO will show some of its original movies in the Rattler’s Den. BET will also be in attendance to conduct HIV testing.

The music network, MusicChoice, will premiere its highly anticipated Def Jam Vendetta video game. The game features popular hip-hop artists as characters.

Matthew Reid,18, a freshman elementary education student from Fort Lauderdale, is excited about the companies and networks who have decided to bring some of their newest products to the campus.

“It’s good to see the school doing all of this and to see that businesses like Comcast and Showtime are taking an interest in our school,” Reid said.

A committee of representatives from various campus organizations coordinated the event.

Jameil Cox is the chairman of the committee and the liaison between FAMU and Comcast. The committee has been planning the Kuumba Fest since November 2002.

Although the committee had to overcome a few rough edges to plan the event, Cox looks forward to the experience students will get from the festival.

“It’s been hard because we’re still students, but I hope that FAMU students will see that they can be a part of something big,” Cox said.

After the festivities are over there will be a VIP reception at the Foster Tanner Recital Hall. Four hundred invitations were mailed to Tallahassee’s education, business and political leaders.

The leaders and patrons will be served a soul food dinner and entertainment will be provide by the music department.

“This year we outlined everything step by step so next year’s committee will know how to make Kuumba Fest better,” Hall said.

In hopes of continuing the partnership with Comcast cable the committee is taking steps to make sure that the Kuumba fest is presented at its best.

Chris Mattox can be reached at christophermattox@hotmail.com.