Harn Museum to feature MUSE fashion show, music performance April 6 at Museum Nights

April 3, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tasana Camara, a kora and balaphon musician, will perform at 8 p.m. April 6 during Museum Nights following the Museum Student University Educators (MUSE) presentation and fashion show, “Adornment and Identity” from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free food will be provided by Aramark.

Camara comes from a long line of griot musicians from Guinea, West Africa, who play traditional Mandinka music. His family makes instruments and organizes musicians to play family events and concerts in local villages and in Conakry, the urban seaport of Guinea.

In 1982, Camara founded Group Yeleba in Conakry, Guinea’s largest city. He performed with Ballet Senegal and Ballet la Maise in Dakar from 1985 to 1987, then joined the Ballet Djouliba, traveling all over the world with the National Ballet of Guinea, until 1990 when he became an artist-in-residence in Holland.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the MUSEs will present the first-ever identity fashion show in relation to the Harn exhibitions. Visitors will engage in discussions about whether clothing and adornment reveal or define identity and will even create their own adornment with jewelry-making and body art. Harn MUSEs are a select group of 10-15 UF students selected each spring and fall semester that participate as volunteers and receive specialized training on museum exhibitions and program development. The MUSEs then create and present engaging public programs around a common theme during Thursday evening UF Student Government-sponsored Museum Nights.

Students with a valid Gator1 card are eligible for a 20 percent discount in the Harn Museum of Art gift shop during Museum Nights. The Camellia Court Café is open Thursday evenings until 10 p.m. for Museum Nights.

University of Florida Student Government hosts Museum Nights to increase student and community visitation at the UF Cultural Plaza, located near the intersection of Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road. It serves as a nighttime entertainment alternative for students and other community members unable to visit during the day.

For more information on Museum Nights, visit http://sg.ufl.edu/SpecialEvents/MuseumNights/.