The Neighborhood News Online

The African Marketplace and Cultural Faire will NOT be happening at the end of this summer at Rancho Cienega Park or in Leimert Park as so many have asked and speculated.

The 25 year legacy of the AMP that garnered recognition twice, as the premiere cultural destination in Los Angeles,  is something for the entire African Diaspora and other communities in Southern California to be proud of, cherished and yes, protected. Unlike many small events that have their place on the cultural stage, the African Marketpalce defined our community in a positive light and in all of the cultural glory it could muster. It provided job opportunities and career training for our adults and youth year after year. It served as an incubator for small businesses, and many entertainment careers were launched and nurtured, as were marriages and families from the relationships forged through the years at the AMP. Our culture in all its diversity, was always highlighted and shown at its best and appreciated by a diverse audience. 

AMP, Inc.'s  developing of the retail co-op stores in the malls, the African American Tourism Council of Los Angeles, the International Global Conference for Pan African Film Festivals in Brazil, and the Small Business Incubator in Leimert Park, were all testaments to the economic purpose of the AMP and its staff. While there are other summer festival and festivities for small business vendors and concert attendees in the Southern California region, the AMP by its design and intent, went beyond a mere "street" festival or concert. It was truly a "summer cultural destination" that local, national and international small business owners/vendors, performers, attendees and tourists alike marked on their calendars a year in advance.

While those planning events in Los Angeles have implied that they are the AMP, we owe our constituents and those who have supported us for more than 27 years the awareness that we will not be here this year, but continue to fight the difficulty of producing this event in Los Angeles and plan for the coming years.  In lieu of this year’s Cultural Faire we will assist with making other events a success such as the Leimert Park Book Fair this Saturday, June 25; the Allensworth Scat To Rap Family Music Festival, September 10; and the African Marketplace Trade EXPO of the 2nd Annual Pan Africa Global Trade Conference on the campus of California State University at Dominguez Hills in October.

We again apologize to many of our foll0wers who have been neglected by the untimely suspension of the Annual Cultural Faire, but we will return soon.

Signed,

Staff of the African Marketplace, Inc.  – 1985 - 2011
Friends of the African Marketplace and Cultural Faire