Cultural Rhythms Chooses Honoree

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations announced yesterday that actress Jada Pinkett-Smith will serve as its Guest of Honor at this Saturday’s 20th annual Cultural Rhythms show.

During the event, the Foundation will recognize Pinkett-Smith as its Artist of the Year, an honor bestowed upon an individual who makes a distinguished contribution to the arts and to humanitarian efforts.

Past guests of the Foundation include George Lopez a year ago, Queen Latifah in 2003, Jackie Chan in 2001, Matt Damon in 2000, Halle Berry in 1998 and Pinkett-Smith’s husband, actor Will Smith, in 1999.

Pinkett-Smith’s career spans a diversity of roles, ranging from Lena James on television’s “A Different World” to more recent feature roles on the big screen as Woo in “Woo,” Niobe in “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions,” and Annie in “Collateral.”

In addition to her roles on the silver screen, she wrote and produced “All of Us,” a television series partly inspired by her relationship with her husband, Will Smith.

Off-screen and far from the limelight, Pinkett-Smith and her husband have quietly established The Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith Family Foundation, which serves at-risk and underprivileged American and South African families.

The organization has provided $50,000 in funding to the Warrior Institute—located at Morgan University in Maryland, where Pinkett-Smith was born—to “create a culturally sensitive and developmentally superior learning environment for young African-American boys that will raise their consciousness, build their confidence, restore their critical thinking and revive their greatness,” according to the Institute’s website.

The Pinkett-Smith Family Foundation also assists African countries in their ongoing efforts in the fight against AIDS, according to S. Allen Counter, the director of the Harvard Foundation, who praised Pinkett-Smith in her capacity as both performer and philanthropist.

“An outstanding American artist today...and represents great values,” Counter said. “[She is] honest, decent...I am impressed with her intellect and her knowledge of people and events.”

“She is the best example the foundation could have showcased because she is so versatile—to be a mother, and very accomplished, and [to have] taken a lot of high impact risks in roles and done well with them,” said Lawrence Adjah ’06, president of the Harvard Black Students Association.

This year’s Cultural Ryhthms show will feature performances by the Harvard Phillipine Forum, Harvard Wushu, and the Harvard Lithuanian Club, as well as a host of others.

The event means “being able to celebrate all cultures as well as your own. So it’s kind of like a fusion,” said Yui Hirohashi ’06, student publicist at the Harvard Foundation. “Jada will add to that energy.”

The performances will not only represent traditionally known cultural art forms, but also blends of artistic styles.

Among the acts, Fuerza Latina will reprise its Candela Hip Hop, a style of Latin music incorporating traditional and contemporary elements.

The show offers both a visual platform for performers who would not otherwise appear on the same stage, as well as a forum to bring together diverse groups.

“[Students] must be enabled to develop their own programs to develop their own cultural understanding,” Counter said.