2016 & 2017 Leimert Park Festival is CANCELLED!!!

The Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival was CANCELLED in 2016 because James Burks, a career employee that works for Cultural Affairs and is the person that approves/denies applications for events in Leimert Park Village, took our event dates, that we've had since 2009 in an effort to relaunch his African Marketplace.
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However, the event he staged, in 2016, was a huge flop because only a handful of people showed up.  Therefore, he cancelled the third day and had to return money to vendors that paid for a 3-day event.  Then, in 2017, James Burks gave our dates to another group, even though their application was submitted after ours.  That group also only drew a few hundred people each day, even though they were using our name illegally, stole images from our website and plagiarized our content.
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Please beware that ANY events in Leimert Park Village Labor Day Weekend are NOT associated in any way with The Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival.  If you attended the REAL Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival between 2009-2015, you know what a huge and quality event it was with superb entertainment, activities for kids, teens & adults, Fortune 500 sponsors and over 50 amazing vendors from all around the world.
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Although we took action immediately and filed formal complaints in 2016 & with the Department of Cultural Affairs, LA City Council Chairman Herb Wesson's office and The Leimert Park Village Task Force, and again in 2017 with those same entities plus Mayor Eric Garcetti;s office, NOTHING was done and to add insult to injury two of those offices NEVER responded to phone calls or emails.
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 We are looking for a new venue for 2018. 

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Want major visibility for your business?

Reach your target audience with a beautiful banner ad on our NEW mega stage where over 60 musicians and performers will present non-stop live entertainment from 10am-7pm for three days!  Exclusive advertising opportunities available.  Click on "Read More" then click on photo to enlarge. Please email lvpfest (at) gmail.com for details.  Available options include:

1. Top banner: 36'-10" x 3'-8"
2. Each side banner: 6' x 16'
3. Center banner: 23'-6" x 12'-8"
4. Bottom banner: 36'-10" x 3.5' or can be divided into 6 custom sizes.

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LA's Best Food Vendors Ready to Serve You!

Start exercising now so you can splurge at the Festival w/o feeling guilty.  We searched high and low for the best of the best that will be able to satisfy the most demanding palettes and tastes.  This year foodies will enjoy sumptuous, savory, sweet and satisfying offerings from  Dulan's Soul Food, Carolina BBQ (ribs and chicken), Pearson's Seafood (fish, shrimp, fried chicken), Gumbo in the Hood (a vegan gumbo), Sweet Beginnings (artisanal, freshly prepared & made-from-scratch sweet and savory organic desserts, breads and small bites), Kettle Corn and Stuff (gourmet kettle corn in several custom flavors), Sno Biz (snow cones), and Mexican ice cream made with fresh fruit and spices.  And, a few more food vendors will be added.

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Ramona Stephens returns as Festival M.C. for the 4th year!

We are over joyed to have comedienne Ramona Stephens host our 3-day festival for the 4th consecutive year.  From the moment she first stepped onto our stage in 2011, she captured the hearts and soul of the audience with her quick wit and keen insights that has everyone laughing out loud nearly to the point of tears.  Drawing from a deep well of talent, Ramona is able to effortlessly entertain and enchant the audience at the same time.  Like the major comedic talents of the past and present, she is able think faster than the speed of light to move from weaving a well-crafted story to capture the moment that is right front of her.  So if you're anywhere within her gaze, please don't act up unless you to be included in her monologue.  Fair warning: All's fair in love and comedy!

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Artist Line-up

The Festival's 2015 partial music entertainment roster is being released today on our beautiful promotional cards that will be distributed throughout LA County over the next six weeks.  The diverse line-up includes artists that will be performing live jazz, blues, reggae, R&B, Afro-beat, hip hop, rock, neo-soul, traditional African drumming, comedy, spoken word and dance. 

As usual, we have a great mix of crowd favorites and new artists performing for the first time on our stage.  The partial line up includes, Barbara Morrison, Azar Lawrence Quartet, Sukari Reid-Glenn Quartet featuring Nedra Wheeler, Medusa, Michael Session Quartet, Nasambu and The Mystic Nomads, Michael Dutton and The 4G Band, Anthony Aquarious, Kari Taylor, Fountain of Roots, Funkalicious, Radio & Dat EZ Band, and more to be announced.

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Festival selects first Female Featured Fine Artist

Fine Artist Diana Shannon Young,  a world-renowned multicultural artist, artist representative, art event curator, workshop presenter, publisher,and speaker has the distinction of being the Festival's first female Featured Fine Artist. Since 2009, not by conscious intention, the Featured Fine Artist have all been men: Azziz Diagne (2009), Charles Bibbs (2010), Ramses (2011, 2012), Carlos Spivey (2013), and Michael Massenburg (2014). Therefore, it is a welcome relief to have such an accomplished artist that just happens to be a woman provide an exceptional image to represent this years theme, "#Our Voice Matters.  Ms. Young's' beautiful "My Voice IS my Vote" image is featured on 65,000 promotional cards, signage and all Official Festival merchandise and materials.  Ms. Young will be exhibiting her fine art at the Festival and available to sign the Festival Poster that features .

Diana Shannon Young has always been artistically soul drawing and sketching from an early age. However, she started her artistic journey in the late 70's when a friend convinced her and her husband to join the myriad of would be gallery owners selling inexpensive posters by Rosamond, Klimt, Picasso and more which led to original graphics by Rockwell, Dali, Neiman and others and on to acquiring and representing original work by some of the aforementioned artist and more.  Noticing a visible shortage of available artwork by artist of color, they published one of the first full color mail order catalogs devoted to images by artist of the African Diaspora. Thus her creative spirit was rejuvenated and her career and journey as a self taught artist took flight. With a critical eye for color and the ability to strike balance between the familiar and the abstract her work has been well received.

Diana studied art at the collegiate level but primarily self directed her work.  She has followed her creative inspirations to heights unconfined yet her art is immediately recognizable. Her work has been featured in National Magazines such as Ebony and The Journal to The National Medical Association as well as LA Weekly Magazine and numerous others.

Her public commissions include but not limited to The March Of Dimes National Office where she created awards for partnering Sororities and Fraternities . She created Collage Painting Awards presented to the six surviving founding members of The Congressional Black Caucus, including creating posters for The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on three separate occasions.  She was also commissioned to create posters for The 25th Anniversary Fundraising poster for The Forum of Black Public Administrators, The 2008 Los Angeles Pan African Film and Art Festival and a special anniversary painting for Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, just to name a few.

Notable shows include solo exhibitions at The African American Museum, Los Angeles, Ca., The Lyceum Theater Museum, San Diego, Ca.  and group exhibitions at Bank One Center and Museum Wilmington, DE. and Riverside Art Museum with Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Charles Bibbs, Jacob Lawrence and more. She has exhibited at Art Expo NY, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, The Brentwood, CA. Fine Art Show., The National Black Fine Art Show, Harlem Fine Art Show and in Harlem, Martha's Vineyard, and The Monterey California Fine Art Show and more.

Collectors include Ed Gordon, Billy Dee Williams, Barbara Thomas, John And Earl Graves Sr., Alden McDonald, Sheila Webb, and more. Diana delights in creating a place of peace through color, texture and shapes.She is inspired by spontaneous impromptu subject matter thus allowing the rough feel and the soft but vibrant hues to set a mood for each painting.  Her paintings reflect spirituality, unity, family, political, botanical, color and form.

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