The Step Afrika! International Cultural Festival grows, earns national recognition

In December of 1995, Brian led a second delegation of young Americans to Step Afrika!’s International Cultural Festival in Johannesburg. This year, the Step Afrika! International Cultural Festival invited a third delegation, Step Afrika! UK, led by Khadijatou Silcott-Fraser. The festival then linked American, South African, and British/Caribbean Artists together through the two-week festival for the very first time.

Jackie Semela, Founder of the Soweto Dance Theater, introduced the Step Afrika! Field Trip, where participants would travel to rural areas throughout South Africa in order to conduct artistic and cultural exchanges. In 1995, Festival participants would travel to Venda where they performed for the Queen (pictured below) and a community of over 1,000. This Field Trip expanded Step Afrika!’s work to reach South Africans all across the country, and Step Afrika! appeared on Good Morning South Africa!

On April 18, 1995, C. Brian Williams, along with his brothers from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.-Beta Chapter, received Step Afrika!’s first award from the Saturn Corporation, a then-operating automobile manufacturer, in honor of Step Afrika!’s outstanding demonstration of teamwork: