Soul Food Café showcases student talent
Students performed spoken word, dancing and singing during the annual Soul Food Café on Monday night.
Matt Leonard
Staff Writer
Students performed spoken word, dancing and singing during the annual Soul Food Café on Monday night.
Hosted by VCU’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, the annual Soul Food Café event gives the university community a chance to get on stage and demonstrate their artistic ability and it gives the audience the chance to dig into some fresh, southern cooking. The event was free to students and 150 people attended, according to NAACP president Shanice Robinson.
The “Harlem Nights” theme for the event included catering by local southern food restaurant Mama J’s along with the student entertainment.
“We’re not just about civil rights,” said Marisa Watts, junior psychology major and member of VCU’s NAACP who helped choose the theme for the event. “We enjoy ourselves, have a good time, and relax.”
One of the 12 singers at the showcase, Jasmine Lawrence, a sophomore science major, said she has been looking forward to performing at the event for awhile and she sent in her audition tape three weeks ago.
“It’s a great opportunity to expose my talent,” Lawrence said. “Not a lot of people know I can sing.”
The NAACP public relations committee planned the event and spent $1,000 of their allotted funds on the festivities, Singh said. The money came from the NAACP yearly budget.
The committee spent three months planning the annual showcase. Two major improvements for this year were organization and better food, said Sarah Singh, sophomore finance major and co-chair of public relations for VCU’s NAACP.
