Adefua Cultural Education Workshop

Founded in 1985, Adefua Cultural Education Workshop’s (A.C.E.W) mission is to create, expand, and offer programs to enhance growth, personal development, and academic success through the study of African culture, music, song, and dance.

Our approach is informed by a desire to transform and engage youth through cultural arts experiences. Guided by lived experience and the cultural values of hospitality, generosity, inclusion, and respect, our community of teaching artists believes in a communal way of life and lives by the adage: “it takes a village.” 

Some of the ways our mission supports the community include:

·       We present and preserve authentic and traditional cultural arts through hands-on, interactive youth dance classes in classrooms for thousands of students of all ages, summer camps, and a yearlong West African dance ensemble.

·       Our intergenerational cultural arts engagement provides young people with an important vehicle for learning, personal growth, and maturation.

·       We offer a therapeutic approach to youth empowerment and cultural connection that facilitates healing and encourages cultural awareness and helps youth learn to express themselves and experience the joy and rich culture of movement and African arts.

·       We are organizing in the community to preserve the legacy of the neighborhood’s cultural brilliance through the formation of the Rainier Valley Creative District (a designation through the Washington State Arts Commission).

• We are providing access to arts and culture for the African immigrant communities throughout our region, many of whom are new to the area and country and seeking a connection to rich cultural resources with elders, youth, arts and traditional background of African culture.
• We are supporting our community as we weather the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racism and heal from the of isolation and disconnection among youth from African communities. 

 With your help we can keep providing a safe community space that reaffirms and celebrates identity – a space that centers joy, pride, and excitement to be who you are authentically.

Thank you so much for your support of our community and of vibrant African arts and cultural education in Seattle. 

With gratitude,

Team A.C.E.W