The First Annual Tamejavi Festival

April 26th - 28th, 2002, Roadside Theater participated in the First Annual Tamejavi Festival in Fresno, California.

The festival was unusual, because it mixed the fields of art and community organizing and was produced by a coalition of the great Central Valley's immigrant communities. Tamejavi presented Promise of a Love Song, Roadside's bilingual musical collaboration with Teatro Pregones and Junebug Productions; the Cambodian opera, Lakhaun Bassae; Teatro Immigrante's Esperanza y Luz; Hmong rap and comedy, Tou Ger Xiong; and much more.

The festival was organized around intentional learning, and, in addition to performances, Tamejavi included workshops, an immigrant film series, an outdoor market place, exhibits, and forums. For example, there was an ethnic media/journalist forum, "Content and Civic Participation," which included the executive director of Pacific News Service, the State News Editor of La Opinion, the host and producer of Hmong Today, and others. In addition to performing, Roadside lead workshops and put together an all-Festival jam with professional musicians.

The First Annual Tamejavi Festival was a project of The Civic Action Network, a part of Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship, with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.

For more information about the Tamejavi Festival, read:

"Taming Tension: Multicultural festival could help unite the Central Valley immigrant community to remedy common ills", San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2002

"Meeting in the Marketplace: Festival Blends Art and Civic Change", The James Irvine Quarterly, Issue 4/5