OKPARA HOUSE
Develops the work.
Research, authorship, publishing, design, objects and cultural production grounded in the recovery of selfhood.
THE NONPROFIT ARM OF OKPARA HOUSE
Culture must be carried into public life.
Afamefuna Inc. is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to strengthening rootedness and connection to our collective African heritage through culture, creativity, research, education and public exchange.
ONE HOUSE · TWO CONNECTED FORMS OF WORK
From knowledge to public encounter.
AFAMEFUNA INC.
Carries it into public life.
Nonprofit programming, education, partnerships, community engagement and support for aligned public-benefit projects.
OUR MISSION
To foster rootedness and connection to our collective African heritage—and create the conditions through which inherited knowledge can be studied, shared and made generative again.
Through design, dialogue, academic research and carefully developed cultural programming, Afamefuna Inc. supports the preservation of Igbo knowledge while opening meaningful exchanges across African and African American experiences.
WHAT THE NONPROFIT MAKES POSSIBLE
Public work with cultural foundations.
Public programs
Conferences, conversations, exhibitions, performances, community gatherings and other encounters that bring cultural knowledge into public life.
Research & education
Academic exchange, seminars, workshops, internships and mentorship that strengthen the study and transmission of African civilizational knowledge.
Creative collaboration
Partnerships with artists, writers, designers, scholars, craftspeople, filmmakers and cultural institutions whose work shares the mission.
Cultural continuity
Projects that protect, reactivate and carry Igbo and African cultural inheritance forward in forms that can remain living and generative.
COLLABORATE
Bring aligned work into conversation.
We welcome proposals from artists, thinkers, scholars, educators, cultural workers and institutions interested in developing work rooted in the mission of Okpara House.
Submit a collaboration inquirySUPPORT A PROJECT
Help consequential work enter the world.
Foundations, institutions, sponsors and individuals may inquire about supporting publications, research, education, exhibitions and public cultural programs. Support sustains the mission; it does not direct it.
Submit a support inquiryAFAMEFUNA
A name and principle of continuity: may the inheritance not be lost.