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WELCOME TO CAMARA ARTS: A KEEPER OF TRADITION

Camara Arts is an organization created to represent, preserve, and reinvigorate traditional African folk arts. The name "Camara" means, keeper of tradition, and identifies a casted family member group amongst the Malinke within the griot tradition, comprising the practitioners, organizers, and teachers of the sacred art forms; thus they are the Keepers of Tradition. Traditionally it is the griots or oral historians amongst the Mande peoples who serve as art-historians and preservers, but especially those born in the Camara family are designated with organizing arts events within the village to serve the community. Our mission is to bring to life the deeper spiritual healing arts of Africa and weave them into the fabric of our everyday life as useful tools for growth and change. Camara Arts is therefore an institution created to serve as a conduit for African cultural arts expression and education.

The mission of Camara Arts is to preserve traditional African folklore, teach its history, research its original meanings and integrate these deeply spiritual forms into culturally based programs. Targeted populations include the youth, but serve all populations in order to educate, inspire change, and provide a platform for dialogue and cultural exchange with the continent of Africa, to further develop knowledge of self through African holistic sciences of body, spirit, and soul. An aim of Camara Arts is to connect these cultures and peoples to their African American counterparts through:

Our region and area of focus is centered around the Mande peoples of West Africa across the disciplines include but are not limited to: music, dance, folklore, storytelling, maskerade & puppetry, theatre, painting, pottery, weaving, fabric making, sculpure, jewelry & craft making etc.

The founder of Camara Arts is Angela Watson, a Fulbright scholar, African folk artist, certified dance therapist, and African studies consultant. Specializing in Guinean traditional styles, as well as other traditional Mandingue arts, Camara Arts provides services such as African dance & studies consulting, performance, workshops, and choreography. Camara Arts also works to facilitate travel/tours to Guinea West Africa helping to arrange personalized trips for both artists and non-artists alike, but especially for those interested in either studying with the ballet theater arts with members of the national ballets of Guinea and/or studying in the village context. Preparation for travel and orientation for traveling in Guinea is provided. This webpage is developed to help your needs. Programs provided by Camara Arts are highlighted here for your convenience.

Camara Arts is affiliated and working inconjunction with: