Among models who will be featured in the fashion show extravaganza, part of the People of Color Concerns Conference at SUNY Fredonia, are (front row, from left): Kay Kyai, Velpo Johnson; (back row): Takia Campbell, Lauren Williams, Shawna Belnavis, Nancy Pham, Shaquell Alexander, Leisel Renard, Jamilah Williams and Jasmine Ranjitsing. |
The annual conference, to be held Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21, offers symposiums, workshops and other sessions that examine the casual relationship of a person’s identity, personality and character with his or her environment, social order and personal inflection.
Program highlights include a performance by Gospel Explosion, Friday at 9 p.m. in Diers Recital Hall and “Faces of Fashion,” a fashion show extravaganza, Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Williams Center. The Black Student Union fashion show has been a tradition at SUNY Fredonia for 31 years.
Boyce Watkins, an author; John Elmore, a Buffalo attorney; and Pastor Roderick L. Hennings, of Zion Dominion World Ministries, Buffalo, are key presenters. Various community leaders, SUNY Fredonia officials and Fredonia BSU alumni will also participate in the two-day conference.
The conference encourages participants to examine themselves in terms of who, what, where, why and how. Moreover, it advocates that people of color, whose identities can be influenced by external influences, determine who they are as individuals and as a community.
Tickets-- at $13 for general public; $11 for faculty and staff; $7 for students -- are available at the Central Ticket Office. Tickets grant admission to all events and receptions.