By Kennington Smith

Every year, the African Student Union takes on a cause they feel needs public awareness and hold an event to do so; last year was a fashion show for AIDS awareness. This year they will be taking on two causes; one domestic and another international. They will be holding a black and white affair for the Athens-Clarke County fine arts department and the Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope.

Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope is a non-profit that promotes education in Africa by building schools, holding reading camps and funding women to go back to school to get their degrees; among other programs.

“Essentially, we partnered with Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope to benefit a woman named Felicia, who is based in Ghana and wants to get her teaching degree,” Outreach Chair Bianca Godwins said, “The awareness aspect is for the depleting funds in the fine arts department of school systems.”

The event will be held Monday, October 13^th at 7 pm in Tate grand hall. The admission is $10. The price of admission includes a talent showcase including dancers, singers, spoken word and a saxophonist. They will be serving African cuisine and have a variety of guest speakers set to attend. All performers in the event are representatives from the fine arts departments at UGA.

This black and white affair is the first of its kind for a specific cause since ASU was founded.

ASU vice president Mark Abere, who co-planned the event with Godwins, understands the important role fine arts has in the school system and is excited about raising awareness to the public.

“This event is important to me because I know the impact fine arts had on me when I was younger,” Abere said, “It gives students something productive to do in their free time, and gives students a chance to shine in something other than traditional academics.”

“To me, a successful event is first a great turnout and secondly that people come away knowing what the true definition of what “fine arts” really is; also, with our guest speakers I want students to further understand the vast educational opportunities they really have” he added.

ASU hopes to raise at least $1000 in ticket sales for the event, all proceeds will go directly to Ghanaian Mothers’ Hope in hopes of bettering the lives of others abroad.

“This year, we really wanted to focus on helping a specific person and cause rather than a third party organization where you almost never see who you’re blessing; we really just want to change lives in a positive way” Godwins said.

Tickets can be purchased at the Tate box office; once again they are $10. A link to buy tickets online can be found in the bio of the ASU twitter and instagram account @UGA_ASU.

Follow African Student Union on Twitter and Instagram @UGA_ASU for further updates on this event and upcoming events they have planned.