More about Africa Oyé Festival

Africa Oyé is the UK's largest festival of music and culture from Africa and the Caribbean. This year we're celebrating our 20th anniversary and, as a non-profit organisation, need your help to both make the festival the best it can be and maximize the positive impact we have on the local community. Thanks to ongoing help from our supporters over the past two decades, we are proud to remain a free festival, ensuring that access is available to all. With too many negative representations of Africa frequently shown, Oyé seeks to establish a balance and highlight the fantastic range of cultures, foods, music and artists that make this great continent so vibrant and inspiring. The festival is a truly international event that harnesses the spirit of multiculturalism and tolerance, helping Liverpool lay claim to its "World in One City" status. Oyé prides itself on being inclusive, non-restrictive, and accessible, which in turn attracts people from a wide range of cultures, ages and backgrounds. Our festival proved to be an integral part of Liverpool's celebrations as European Capital of Culture in 2008 and continues to add a more diverse element to the city's already renowned rich heritage in arts, music and literature. In 2009, Oyé launched an additional strand of programming called Oyé Touring and Trading. As part of the Black Routes network, Oyé produced two national tours and a learning and participation project which will continue throughout 2012. Oyé is a registered charity and all funds raised are directly invested into the festival. We send our thanks to all of our supporters over the years who have helped make Africa Oyé everything it has become.