CLEVELAND — Djapo Cultural Arts Institute, based in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood, is an internationally known organization that brings people from all walks of life together through traditional dance and music. Talise A. Campbell is the Executive Artistic Director and explains the dance company is birthed from her experience as an educator.
"I have been teaching in the city of Cleveland since graduating from Cleveland School of the Arts. Djapo is at 15 years. We have brought so many individuals together from various ethnicities and backgrounds to learn about culture, art, music, dance, history, folklore."
Campbell was also a Professor at Oberlin College for seven years.
"So a part of my curriculum was for them to get out of Oberlin and actually have a live experience of culture."
Music Director Weedie Braimah explains this merging of education, culture, and real life experience is vital for our city.
"It's a necessity for institute like this to be in a place like Cleveland because it maintains a narrative that African culture and African drum and dance and diasporic folklore traditions are still here and still maintained to be intact."
"But Djapo's influence goes well beyond Cleveland. Dancer, and choreographer Inaya Carrington explains Jocko's international trips provide an even deeper sense of cultural awareness. So much so that they were influential in her higher education.
"I first traveled with Djapo when I was 14, so I was a freshman in high school. We've been to Senegal, we've been to Ghana, Mali, and I was mind blown. It was everything that I did not expect it to be. That's where I kind of ended up within my career wise, wanting to be an international relations."
This weekend, Djapo's three-day Juneteenth Festival merges all forms of education, international relationships, and world-class performance.
"This is our 15th annual Juneteenth celebration. We're going to have this entire building activated, and then we culminate the weekend with our annual concert, which is highly anticipated. It's like you're in Cleveland, but you are on Broadway," explained Campbell. "I have this saying, if you really want to learn about someone's culture, dive into the art. As we learn so much about others, we begin to learn more about ourselves."
You can learn more and buy tickets to Djapo's Juneteenth Festival here.