50th Anniversary: planning a year for the books
In 2025, Diamano Coura West African Dance Company will celebrate their 50th anniversary. Executive and Artistic Director, Mama Naomi Diouf (a National Heritage Fellow, and NEA & NCTA Dance USA Fellow) envisioned a yearlong celebration of activities culminating with the 50th Anniversary performance in December 2025.
Planning before the planning.
The Diamano Coura team needed help surfacing ideas, objectives, and mapping an initial calendar of events. The team felt a bit stuck in how to start with event planning on this scale, since the type of event, venue, and potential collaborators were so interdependent. Mama Naomi had several goals:
Use the celebration as a rite of passage and continuity for the next 50 years, amplifying indigenous folk dance and music through educational programs and partnerships grounded deeply within communities
Reinforce Diamano Coura as trendsetters
Create a virtuous cycle of planning and communication to more easily incorporate outside collaborators into event and production planning
Virtual idea mapping.
In two virtual sessions, Zahler Design guided a process to surface ideas and pull out decision-making criteria to kick-start momentum, including:
Year-long Event Schedule
Event Types and Requirements
Key Stakeholders and Collaborators
Engagement Plan
Impact Goals
Results.
Working visually on a digital whiteboard allowed the team to see how their ideas could play out over the year. This allowed for immediate decision-making on how many and what types of events would be manageable for the team to produce. In addition to the session notes, Zahler Design compiled:
Yearlong Calendar: events spread across a full year, corresponding with other major industry and community events. The team identified eight types of activities. For each activity, they defined the objective, what they needed, and who would be involved to bring it to life.
Planning Playbook: an editable Excel template for each event type to decide budget, venue, timeline, and guide common goals in collaborating with other dance companies.
Impact Goals: summary of potential impact goals across six dimensions.
The team are now using the workshop documentation and templates to continue the decision-making and begin planning in earnest.
ABOUT DIAMANO COURA
Diamano Coura means “those who bring the message.” Diamano Coura West African Dance Company is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to the preservation, education, and appreciation of traditional West African music, dance, theater, and culture. They are located in the historic Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts in Oakland, California.