FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Beat Festival Wins State Award
SALEM, OR
March 3, 2011

The 2010 World Beat Festival has been named “Best Music Festival Within a Festival or Event” by the Oregon Festivals & Events Association (OFEA) at their annual convention in Bend, OR. It’s the fifth consecutive major award for the festival from OFEA, which exists to support and promote all festivals and events within the state. Previous awards include Best Performing Arts, Best Festival, and Best Cultural Heritage Event in Oregon.

The World Beat Festival includes an array of music from local ethnic cultural community members representing cultures from all over the world, and is one central theme that event organizers use to celebrate local cultural diversity. The festival is the main program of the Salem Multicultural Institute (SMI), which has the mission to promote an awareness and appreciation of local ethnic cultural diversity through educational programs and activities.

Marisa Barrios Newnam, volunteer Board Member and Entertainment Chair, plans and books over 100 performances, including all the music, at the festival each year. “Being recognized consistently by the OFEA as one of the premier festivals in Oregon is an overwhelming thrill for all of the volunteers that dedicate so many hours of hard work in making the festival so successful every year,” states Ms. Newnam. Graham Morris, executive director of SMI agrees, “This award is a resounding confirmation that the festival is a vital part of our community. As the 2010 census data releases continue to show – cultural diversity is here, it’s important, we need to engage with it, and by celebrating it we gain an appreciation and awareness that will help us as individuals and together as a community, create opportunity for future success.”

The 2010 program for which the award was given recognized a music schedule that included an Australian didgeridoo player, Latin guitar fusion, Musekiwa Chingodza Zimbabwean mbira, Japanese taiko, Louisianan swamp rock, German Oom-Pah, Bombay-rock headliner Manooghi Hi, classical flute, Turkish zurna drums and miswiz, Samoan folk songs, plus many more musical scores that accompanied dance forms representing every continent.

The 14th annual World Beat Festival takes place at Riverfront Park on June 25 and 26, 2011. More details on this event and other SMI programs are available at Salem Multicultural.org and WorldBeatFestival.org.

Return to media page