Masankho Banda to Perform, Hold Workshops at UNC Asheville;
Events Held in Conjunction with Local Martin Luther King Day Celebrations

Masankho Banda

Masankho Banda, acclaimed African performance artist and peace activist, will hold a workshop and concert at UNC Asheville as part of his "Playing for a Change: Seeding Peace" tour. The workshop and concert are part of local Martin Luther King Day Celebrations. Events will be held in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union Alumni Hall and admission is based on a $5-$15 sliding scale.

Banda will lead an InterPlay workshop from 3-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13. InterPlay uses interactive movement, theater games and dialogue exercises to help groups explore challenging community issues. In this workshop, participants will learn movements and storytelling exercises to explore diversity and multiculturalism.

Banda and local community members will take center stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, to drum, sing and dance. The performance will highlight the possibilities of a multicultural, intergenerational, multifaith world.

In 1987, Banda fled his native Malawi where his father spent 12 years jailed as a political prisoner. Since then, Banda has used performance art to work toward peace around the world and has traveled on peace education trips to Sierra Leone, Mali, Malawi, South Africa and Croatia. In 1997, Banda founded Ucandanc African Performing and Healing Arts and now travels teaching dance, storytelling and InterPlay activities. Banda received a 2001 "Heros of Peace" award from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Other local events include a free youth concert at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, at the Diana Wortham Theatre and a second workshop at 3 p.m. p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, at Eagle Home Studio, 75 Broadway, Asheville. Cost for this workshop is $10-$30 sliding scale.

For information on all four events, call Meg MacLeod at 828/254-6484.

Media Contacts:

• Meg MacLeod, event coordinator, 828/254-6484
• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526