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New American Arts Festival Returns to Benson on August 3rd

The 5th annual New American Arts Festival, which features art from immigrants and refugees now living in Omaha, will take place in downtown Benson tomorrow,  August 3rd, from 5 to 10 p.m.

Brittany Steigner, festival committee chair and Lutheran Family Services Outreach Specialist, says the festival is a collaboration between LFS and Benson First Fridays.  She says the number of attendees has increased each year – exceeding 500 last year. 

Steigner says many of the people in Friday’s show were successful artists in their home countries.

“So we have a Sudanese leather maker who travelled all over northeast Africa selling his leather goods.  We have a Nepali artist who actually created his own nonprofit.  He taught young Nepali women the art of paper making in order to support their own families, and he was even be able to purchase plots of land for them so that their families could have this land in Nepal for generations. So, we have multiple artists that were doing that back home.”

In addition to visual art displayed on the street and in Benson galleries, the Festival will include music and dancing.  And there will be ethnic food for sale, including a Syrian food tent and an African food truck. 

For more information, search New American Arts Festival on Facebook. 

The artists’ work can also be viewed and purchased year-round at NAAF.co.