Afrika Connexions is not only a successful community radio program. As a focal point for the wider African community of Sydney, Radio Skid Row has both initiated and been involved in many activities and events celebrating the diverse cultures of its listeners and supporters as well as providing inspiration and support to younger generations of Africans arriving in this city to develop their own projects.

At the first Afrika Connexions Festival all of the musicians played for free- a testament to their appreciation for Radio Skid Row. In later years, Radio Skid Row partnered with Carnivale and Marrickville Council to stage the festival.

The festival started like a giant picnic of friends and families with some of the best African musicians in Sydney on stage. In later years, it became a celebration of culture and all forms of art. There was a gallery of art and sculpture, coffee-making ceremonies, poetry readings and, of course, African food.

Organising the festival involved an army of volunteers from Skid Row. Nicola Joseph and Paul Thusi became ace festival organisers with walkie talkies and a hell of a lot of energy pulling a bigger festival off each year for four years.

Nicola says “The festival eventually grew and established itself. It was a great get together for the still growing African communities in Sydney. Radio Skid Row set out to plant the idea of a festival in the minds of Sydney’s African communities and it worked because festivals continue today organised by communities now spread all over Sydney”.

More than anything it was an opportunity for the African community to make at least one smal part of Sydney, theirs for the day.

Check out the photos from the Afrika Connexions Festival on Skid Row’s facebook page.

Afrika Connexions is not only a successful community radio program. As a focal point for the wider African community of Sydney, Radio Skid Row has both initiated and been involved in many activities and events celebrating the diverse cultures of its listeners and supporters as well as providing inspiration and support to younger generations of Africans arriving in this city to develop their own projects.