BAKHARI S. NOKURI

The Night of Hope, an event initiated by the Nokuri Foundation in 2017 and relaunched in 2024, celebrates Cameroonian-African-American culture through music performed by the Night of Hope Big Band. The event highlights the foundation’s core values—health, art, and service—by awarding three grants: The Hope Award, The Pamela B. Duke Grant, and The Military Award.

This year, the Night of Hope will be taking a different approach. Now, under the complete artistic direction of Bakhari Nokuri for his USC Senior Capstone, the event will be adapted into a multidisciplinary showcase of USC talent, hosted outdoors at the house shared by several members of the 2025 Night of Hope Big Band, who met and grew closer through the event. During this event, guests will walk into an immersive jazz experience, curated with food, drinks, and incredible music. As this event is a celebration of the prior Night of Hope events, the award-winning compositions of the Night of Hope Big Band will be readapted into groove songs with added vocals by members of the USC pop and jazz programs. The event will also feature a short presentation, showing the work and meaning of the Nokuri Foundation, as well as show the recent developments in the last calendar year, including building a library at Ray Est Primary School in Limbe Cameroon, and maintaining the Urgent Care clinic for sickle cell in Limbe.

The event is free and all proceeds donated will go directly to the Nokuri Foundation.