Umoja Together event highlights unity and diversity through art and food later this month

Refugee Services of Texas – Dallas is celebrating unity and diversity across cultures during its art auction, Umoja Together: A Night of Interwoven Art.

The auction will happen on the same day as the organization’s North Texas Giving Day event on Sept. 22. All mediums of art (including performance art) are welcome in order to be comprehensive of what defines art, as we previously reported.

“We wanted to celebrate all of the differences not only in us as staff, but all of the differences from the people that we serve as refugees and all of the different cultures and how, even though we’re so different, certain things can unite us no matter what,” RST Development Associate Hope Goldman says.

“We’re hoping to find more cultural pieces, like cultural dancing or drumming,” she says. “We’re also accepting things for raffles, so if somebody wants to donate an art class, then we would probably put that in the raffle, or things like cooking classes or passes to museums where you can view art.”

Bites for the event will come straight from the refugee cookbook Plated Stories: Legacies from Home to Table. It features stories of the food, clients and some RST staff.

The art auction will be both in-person and virtual, since artists are coming from all over the state. While the event is free, the organization is asking that anyone who attends makes a reservation first.

“We want it to be something that anybody can access it. The only way that we are really going to be pushing for financial involvement is through the the raffle in the office,” she says.

Umoja Together will be from 6:30 – 9 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Sons of Hermann Hall.