UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 25, Page 4
March 23, 1995
Black Arts Fest to include step show and leadership conference

     The 1995 Black Arts Festival will include a leadership
conference, step show, Gospelrama and a special performance by actor
John Amos.
     The first event, the Black Student Leadership Conference on
"Facing Adversity: Challenges of Being a Leader," will be held April 7-
9 in the Perkins Student Center.
     Registration fees are $70 for University students, faculty and
staff and $85 for those outside the University. Featured speakers
include Lawrence Otis Graham and Lenworth Gunther.
     Graham will speak at 9 a.m., Saturday, April 8. He is an author,
a corporate attorney in New York, an adjunct assistant professor at
Fordham University and president of the diversity consulting firm,
Progressive Management Associates Inc. He has worked in the White
House and for the Ford Foundation.
     His award-winning investigative article, "A $105,000-a-year
Harvard-trained Lawyer Goes Undercover as a Busboy at Greenwich
Country Club," is being made into a movie by Warner Brothers. Denzel
Washington will portray Graham.
     Gunther, educator and entrepreneur, known as one of America's
most prized speakers, will conclude the conference with a speech at
noon on Sunday, April 9.
     Of Jamaican roots, Gunther grew up in Harlem. He became a Woodrow
Wilson and Ford Foundation doctoral fellow and received four degrees
from Columbia University, including a doctorate in American history
with a specialty in African-American, West-African and Russian
studies. He is president of Edmedia Associates, an educational and
motivational consulting corporation that specializes in racial and
ethnic history, diversity and interpersonal communications.
     The third annual Richard Wilson Greek Step Show is scheduled for
7 p.m., Saturday, April 8, in the Bob Carpenter Center. For ticket
information, call 831-2991.
     From Wednesday, April 19, to Friday, April 21, actor John Amos,
best known for his role as the adult Kunte Kinte in Roots, will be on
campus for a residency and performance.
     The performance, a solo theatrical presentation written by Amos
and entitled Halley's Comet, is scheduled for 8 p.m., Friday, April
21, in Mitchell Hall. Tickets for the performance are $18 for the
general public, $12 for University faculty, staff and senior citizens
and $10 for students. For ticket information, call UD1-HENS.
     The project is supported by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, its
members and contributors, in partnership with the National Endowment
for the Arts.
     The Black Arts Festival concludes at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 30,
with the annual Gospelrama, featuring the groups Anointed and Abundant
Harvest in Pearson Hall auditorium. Tickets can be purchased at all UD
box offices beginning April 3.
     For more information on any of the events planned for the Black
Arts Festival, call the Center for Black Culture at 831-2991.