38 17
An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
Black arts and music Ames festival celebrates black culture
Questions on future of Iowan caucuses BY ANNA.OLSON & KYLEE.HAUETER @iowastatedaily.com
BY MADISON.MASON @iowastatedaily.com The Ames and Iowa State community came together for the very first Black Arts and Music Festival (BAMF) on Saturday and Sunday. This event was held at the Ames Public Library and was put on by staff and volunteers. Tanvi Rastogi, teen librarian at the Ames Public Library, was the one to come up with the idea behind BAMF, in which she said it was important to amplify the voices of marginalized communities that often don’t have the voice to do so. Rastogi said she came up with this idea while on the committee for Ames Pride Fest, which gave her inspiration to create an event that educates people but also celebrates culture. “It’s hard when so many of the stories one sees about their community are grim,” Rastogi said. “Everyone deserves the chance to revel in all of the amazing things their community is putting out into the world, and that’s exactly what Pridefest does. I wanted to do something similar with the Black Arts and Music Festival.” The festival kicked off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, when children were encouraged to go to the Storytime Room to hear cultural stories in
MONDAY
02.10.2020 Vol. 220 No. 093
CAITLIN YAMADA/ IOWA STATE DAILY The piece “Mindless” by Jamie Malone, an Iowa State alumn, was on display in the Grand Staircase gallery of the Ames Public Library.
order to set the mood for the rest of the festival. Following storytime, the first workshop that took place was over the art of printmaking held by Jamila Johnson. Johnson is a recent graduate from Iowa State who has many pieces of art displayed in the Memorial Union at Iowa State. The next day of the Black Arts and Music Festival, Sunday, Johnson held her own Artist Talk about her pieces that were displayed in the Ames Public Library. Another workshop that was held on Saturday was Juliana Jones’ workshop on how to create paper art. Jones is a local artist based out of
Ankeny. She creates 3D art that involves many mediums, textures, genres and cultures. Jones followed her workshop later in the day with the last Artist Talk at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in The Studio at the Ames Public Library. Another of the artist talks on Saturday was that of Jamie Malone, an artist and recent graduate of Iowa State with a degree in biological/ pre-medical illustrations.Throughout their artist talk, Malone explained their different influences of their art. They talked about how Baroque and
FESTIVAL
PG8
Exhibit features five local black artists BY LOGAN.METZGER @iowastatedaily.com With Black History Month well underway, the Ames Public Library celebrated it with a weekend full of activities and art. The Black Arts and Music Festival, which took place Saturday and Sunday, showcased five artists and their artwork in the Ames Public Library. The five exhibits will be on display until Feb. 15 when they are taken down. The first artist is Chinemelum Amara Agba, an Ames High School student and the youngest of the artists. She had 10 pieces that were displayed in the Youth Services Area. Her artwork ranges from woodcut prints to digital paintings and drawings. One of her pieces, in particular, is a woodcut print of a black girl wearing a black beret with the words “Danger, Educated Black Girl” surrounding her.
innovate.iastate.edu
Create.
“Agba is an Ames High School student who sees her future in graphic design and interaction design,” according to the festival’s brochure. “[Agba] creates posters, logos and infographics for organizations and studies web code in hopes to design websites in the future. She has also participated in the Ames High School Memory Project and is an active member of the National Art Honors Society.” The next artist is Jamila Johnson, an Iowa State alumna. She had six pieces that were displayed in the Youth Services Area. All of her pieces were prints, including linoleum prints, linocuts and lithographs. Many of her pieces were of prominent individuals from the black community, including Thurgood Marshall, Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth. Johnson gave a printmaking workshop on Saturday in the Youth Makerspace for kids grades first through fifth. During this workshop, kids and their parents were able to make their own prints similar to Johnson’s
EXHIBIT
PG8
Want your ideas to impact the world? Explore exciting new opportunities to tap into your inner entrepreneur—whatever your major. Co-create with fellow innovators in the oneof-a-kind Student Innovation Center opening later this spring. Embrace your spirit of adventure.
After the Iowa Democratic Party delayed releasing the of results from the 2020 Democratic caucuses, there has been talk of ending the Iowa caucuses for good. Since Iowa’s entry into the Union in 1846, the state used the caucuses-to-convention system; however, in 1972, Iowa moved their caucuses to be placed before the New Hampshire Primary as a presidential nominating contest. The caucus began to set a precedent as a potential way to gain support after George McGovern’s second placement propelled him into the Democratic nomination in 1972 and many thereafter. Despite the history of the Iowa Caucuses helping with nominations for both Republican and Democratic races, there has long been conversation of these caucuses ending. In Emory H. English’s book “The Annals of Iowa,” he said, “[C]itizens were outspoken in condemnation of the Caucus.” This concern is still relevant after a “coding issue” in the app used for precincts to report the results of the 2020 Iowa Caucuses, delaying the public release of the results. One hundred percent of results have been released, though “inconsistencies” remain and questions are being raised as to whether the caucuses should continue to exist. Mack Shelley, Iowa State professor and chair of the political science department, said discrepancies in the 2012 Republican caucuses and 2016 Democratic caucuses showed this voting system may not be maintained in the current era. “Basically, there is a common perception that the Iowa caucuses are a massive amateur hour run by incompetent leadership using an archaic system built in the 19th century and incapable of being brought successfully into the 21st century,” Shelley said. Maddie Anderson, chair of Story County Democrats, said there have always been people in opposition to the caucuses. “There are many people who oppose the caucus because it excludes people with disabilities, shift workers and people with small children,” Anderson said. “There are always calls to abandon the caucus.”
CAUCUS
PG8