The First World Festival of Black Arts or World Festival of Negro Arts was held in Dakar, Senegal, 1–24 April 1966, initiated by former President Leopold Senghor, under the auspices of UNESCO,[3] with the participation of 45 African, European, Caribbean, and North and South African countries, and featuring black literature, music, theater, visual arts, film and dance.[4] It was first state-sponsored festival to showcase the work of African and African diasporic artists, musicians and writers to a global audience.[5] Participants included historian Cheikh Anta Diop; dancers Arthur Mitchell and Alvin Ailey; Mestre Pastinha, a Capoeira troupe from Bahia; Duke Ellington; Marion Williams; singers Julie Akofa Akoussah and Bella Bellow; writers Aimé Césaire, Langston Hughes, Wole Soyinka, Amiri Baraka, and Sarah Webster Fabio.[6] The filmmaker William Greaves made a 40-minute documentary of the event entitled The First World Festival of Negro Arts (1968).[7] Italian journalist Sergio Borelli produced Il Festival de Dakar (1966)[8][9] a 50-minute documentary for RAI.