By Siany Harts

Darting around Sacramento State’s Union Serna Plaza, Ajamu Lamumba moved swiftly to help the next band set up on stage. 

He spent the afternoon of the third annual WEUSI music festival on Sept. 13 splitting time between checking in with his staff and performers, and grooving to the music in his downtime. As the program advisor for Sac State UNIQUE, a University Union program that hosts two campus events weekly, Lamumba put a lot of thought into the name “WEUSI. 

“When we decided on doing this event, I figured we need to have our own special name, like Coachella or something like that. … So WEUSI, you can think of it as a sense of unity. We want to bring unity within the Sac State community. We want to do events for students to feel accepted, respected and connected,” Lamumba said. 

Centering student engagement as the focus of each and every WEUSI event, Lamumba makes it a point to not only ask for open feedback from students, but also incorporates their suggestions. Noticing that weekend events tended to pull less attendance, Sac State UNIQUE’s student assistant Isabella Padilla mentioned the importance of understanding the college’s students’ demographics and interests. 

“I’ve seen a greater attendance especially because we realized Fridays work better, especially with this being a commuter campus,” Padilla said. “I noticed a lot of people coming from class and being excited about the music and excited about the different things we have to offer.”

Speaking of piquing students’ excitement, Lamumba picks musical guests strategically to build hype among a lively campus crowd. The latest music festival had performances from The Philharmonik, the moniker for Christian Gates, a Sacramento native and the 2024 NPR Tiny Desk Contest Winner.

Euphoric beats weren’t the only sounds filling the air for the Sept. 13 event, as many students made their way to the dance floor for the powerful rhythms and traditional banda sound from Banda La Mexicana de los Bocanegra. To coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15th to Oct. 15th, Lamumba took pride in showcasing various Hispanic performers as the closing acts of the event. 

“We’re also celebrating Mexican Independence, so we do have a Latin DJ as well as giving the opportunity for brothers of Gamma Zeta Alpha to do their El Grito portion, which is the announcement that Mexico is fully independent,” Lamumba said, during the event.

Students coming to and from class could hear upbeat music growing louder and louder as they turned their heads toward Serna Plaza seeking a glance at all the fun. The music initially caught their attention, but noticing some of their peers working at The Stinger Expo secured their stay.

The Stinger Expo made a second appearance at the latest WEUSI festival as a student-led vendor market where student entrepreneurs can display their businesses and talents. Recognizing the need to support local businesses, WEUSI plans to host The Stinger Expo at all of their music festivals moving forward. 

“The other thing I’m really happy about is we have The Stinger Expo, which is the student individuals who are selling their own wares, a lot of reused clothing, maybe some arts and crafts, maybe some henna designs. It’s an opportunity for the students to make money as well,” Lamumba says. 

Volunteer work is a key and pivotal element of the success of the Sac State UNIQUE program. In addition to getting the chance to be behind the scenes of every event, student volunteers also gain valuable experience working with sound equipment, lighting, event planning and organizing live productions. 

Contributions from students who are excited to offer a helping hand become vital when the biggest barrier for Lamumba has been financial resources. Mentioning that the University Union provides support to continue WEUSI’s stability, Lamumba still seeks the ability to provide artists with their deserved compensation and attract high-profile artists to Sac State.

“The biggest one is financial because artists want to be paid and justly so. You know they put a lot of time and energy and effort into their craft so to be able to meet their needs financially, it’s kinda hard,” Lamumba said. 

Despite potential financial hurdles, WEUSI holds a promising future under the direction of a program advisor whose main goal is to create inclusive spaces on campus that welcome all students with open arms. 

“WEUSI you can think of it as like ‘We the people’. It’s inclusive. It brings us together. That’s what we’re trying to do: bring people together,” Lamumba said. 

This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19. Sign up for our “Sac Art Pulse” newsletter here.