ABOUT US

The Pan African Arts Society (PAAS) is a Colorado-based non-profit 501c3 organization that visualizes and executes arts education, social change venues throughout the year and within the Denver metro-area in order to increase dialogue and action in diverse settings through the use of cultural icons including film, performance, creative writing and oration.

The mission of the PAAS is to cultivate creative and spiritual revolution, celebrate African culture and Black art forms, and incite social change in our community through collaborative performance, exhibition and publication. It is our hope that these seeds will be nurtured and yield increased possibilities for public engagement, professional, and personal development, and preservation and perpetuation of cultural heritage.

Current Programs Include:
The Black Is...CultureFeast [formally known as the Denver Pan African Film Festival]– our partnership with the Denver Film Society and various corporate and community entities – is an award-winning showcase of independent and mainstream films from the international Black experience including guest presenters, independent filmmakers, workshops, panels, parties and an educational youth fest. Held the LAST week of April in various locations in Denver metro-area, the Black Is...CultureFeast celebrates African culture through poetry, film, live music and performance art.

Café Nuba (Its Hot & It’s Black) – rockin' the mic since 1999 every LAST FRIDAY - this is our multi-award-winning monthly microcinema, poetry and open mike set at the historic Roxy Theater (2549 Welton) in Five Points neighborhood - Denver, featuring local, national, and international artists and performers, independent films, live music, with free condom distribution and HIV education. www.myspace.com/CafeNuba or www.CafeNuba.com - Watch "Cafe Nuba TV" online at www.ManiaTV.com - Cafe Nuba, or on Denver Cable Access ch 58! Some past guest include; Oscar Brown, Jr., Toni Blackman, Dead Prez, Amiri Baraka, Staceyann Chin, Ursula Rucker, The Last Poets, and Suheir Hammad.

SlamNUBA (We Cut Headz!) - Colorado's newest performance/slam poetry competition event sponsored by www.PodSlam.org and hosted by the newly formed Nuba Slam Team (currently ranked 4th in the U.S.) reppin' more of Denver's finest in spoken-word with Featured Artists & Cash Prizes! "We Cut Headz" EVERY 1ST THURSDAY @ Blackberries Ice Cream Lounge, 26th & Washington, Denver. ALL-AGES doors: 7:30pm: 8:00pm Open Mic: 830: Slam ~ cost: $5 ($2 for slam poets) info at www.myspace.com/SlamNuba_Team

SOIL Emerging Artists & Writers Series – quarterly collaboration with various cultural workers and insitiutions to present new and established but "not known to this community/market" artists and writers, through workshops, public interviews, exhibitions and studio visits. “SOIL” is the title for the Panel Series at the Black Is...Culturefeast.

!BLAM (Black Literature, Art & Music) Youth Program – K-12 arts education curriculum/programming utilizing Black art forms to educate, entertain, cultivate and inspire students and educators within specified venues or in the school setting. !BLAM also includes a summer, 4-week arts education and self-esteem intensive session called “A Young Sistah’s Bootkamp” specifically for teenage girls age 12 – 19; the BrownSuga Youth Fest featuring hip-hop cultural activism and performance - last weekend in April; and the “Q-POC (Queer People of Color) Lounge,” a safe-to-be yourself, social, artistic, and empowering space for youth who identify as LGBTQ.