(elegant music) - I am here with dearly and respectfully called Mama in Gia Kai the authority on event production here in Detroit.

So if you say Noelle Knight campus Marsh's concerts Beacon Park the dearly missed Detroit Festival of the Arts, African World Festival, you are the woman behind making those events happen.

So before we jump into the African World Festival how did you get into event production?

I graduated Castech High School, went to DC for Howard University and I moved myself from the pre-law program into the film directing program and I really found myself there and I lucked up on this little ad and it just a two line ad and said, they were looking for a programming coordinator and I thought well I can produce a film, I'm sure I can produce an event.

I ended up with the University Cultural Center Association and that's how I got involved with Detroit Festival of the Arts.

And I'm literally now completing maybe about at least 25 years as a consultant with what's now Midtown Detroit Inc. Had been the University Cultural Center Association and was the producer of Detroit Festival of the Arts which was an event I just loved.

I'm so grateful to have been associated with that.

What's better in life than to do what I really love to do, and then it actually is a service and is appreciated and supports, folks moving forward in their careers.

And I love when it, when it does feed somebody.

We have the African World Festival coming up celebrating 40 years of the African World Festival.

Who are the minds behind the creation of the African World Festival?

Why was it so important for the African World Festival to be created in Detroit and how has it evolved?

- The first festival was held in August of 1983.

Katherine Blackwell, who is a revered ancestor from this city, she was the first chairperson for the very first African World Festival.

And I even saw the registration form for the first craftspeople who were making up the marketplace and it was Ibn Pori Pitts who was the chair for the Craftspersons.

So it was just a number of persons.

We are gonna definitely have all their names available at the event.

We are really looking at the history this year and we're going to actually have an installation a big display on Hart Plaza during the festival weekend that the public can check out the whole 40 year history of this event.

So we've been deep in the archives and it has just been so thrilling to really recapture the story of its evolution.

- For those who are wondering what the experience is like at the African World Festival, take our hand and walk us through the tastes, sounds and smells and sights of the African World Festival coming up this year.

- So this is a cultural arts event with something for everyone.

We have the Watoto Village, which focuses on our youth.

Watoto means children in Ki Swahili.

We have Elder Village where we treat our elders as they should be respected.

We have Generation Next, which is where we really favor our older teens and young adults.

We have African cuisine, Caribbean cuisine, African American foods.

We have vegan and vegetarian foods.

We have specialty drinks.

And so we really look to focus on all of the arts the theater, spoken word, dance, musical performance, both vocal and instrumental.

So we have all that going on and we really work to bring a lot of different representations of the African world.

- I know that we have some internationally known locally grown talent presenting and performing at the African World Festival.

- Of course there's the main stage where Friday night as we're celebrating our 40th, we thought who else kicks off with the notion of a Afro future?

Cause we're saying we're 40 years, but we we're not stopping.

We plan to keep zooming.

And so who is that?

And sure enough, we were able to land Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton.

We're really happy this year that one of our local internationally known groups Underground Resistance with our organization that has fostered techno and hip hop all across the world from right here in Detroit.

They are doing a special presentation on Saturday night to close the main stage.

And then our own Jessica CareMore is curating the Friday night close of the pyramid stage and she has Dre Scon and the Clowns and she has Somi who is not from Detroit, but it's a sister whose voice is so beautiful, we know that Detroiters are going to, who don't know her are gonna fall in love with her.

So I say the food, the entertainment and the marketplace those are the soul of the African World Festival.

But the heart of the festival is the annual reunion because people come every year bring their friends and family and it's just a joyous, it's a beautiful spirit within this festival.

It's just an absolute pleasure to be able to provide opportunities.

And I'm that bridge.

I figured out at some point that I'm that bridge between people who have a talent or a skill or an interest and somebody who needs or wants that talent, skill or interest.

And I can plug it up and we can create something really beautiful.