The 18th annual Culturefest, a series of events designed to explore campus diversity, will begin this Thursday and conclude next Saturday, with the theme of "The Whole World in Our Hands."
All events are free and open to the public, and all events except for the Cultureshow will have free food available.
"Our goal is to allow the Hopkins community to experience the depth and diversity within the student body through educational as well as entertaining events," said sophomore Edward Chan, Culture co-chair.
He added, "We plan to represent campus diversity through the various events we cosponsored with other organizations and the educational events."
Culturefest is funded in part by the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office. This year, $12,000 was provided to Culturefest's organizers. Other funds were acquired through fundraising efforts, and that amount has not yet been determined.
The opening ceremony will take place today at the Glass Pavilion at 1 p.m. African musician Amadou Kouyate will be performing. The featured speaker will be Ralph Johnson, associate dean of Student Life and director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
On Friday, there will be an Art Gallery featuring exotic teas at 10 p.m. at the Mattin Center. The event, co-sponsored by Coffee Grounds, will feature both student and local art.
The annual Cultureshow will take place Saturday, Nov. 13, in Shriver Hall from 8 to 10 p.m. Over 20 different student organizations, along with solo performers, will participate in the show.
The International Night Market will be Sunday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Glass Pavilion. The Market is being cosponsored by the IAC, and will feature free catered food from local restaurants Kumari, Ikaros, #1 Chinese Restaurant, and Hibachi. Student groups will also be holding cooking demonstrations of cooking dishes.
The movie for Monday night's Movie Night was chosen through a Daily Jolt poll. The winner, Bend it Like Beckham, will be shown at Hodson on Monday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. and 9:30 pm. Free popcorn, snacks, and drinks will be served as well.
Tuesday night, there will be an Indian Classical Dance Show in Shriver Auditorium from 7 to 9 p.m. The show is called "Sanskriti: The Classical Arts of India" and will feature dance and music from all over India. Like almost all other Culturefest events, food and refreshments will be served. The Caribbean Cultural society's Beauty Pageant "Faces of the Caribbean" will take place Friday night, November 19 at 7 p.m. at the Glass Pavilion.
In addition to the traditional large-scale events, this year's Culturefest features a number of smaller, more interactive events, such as Thursday's night's North and South Korea discussion and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference.
The North/South Korea Discussion Panel will feature guest speaker Courtland Robinson from the School of Public Health. The Diversity Conference will be held at the Great Hall in Levering Hall on Saturday, with the conference's keynote speech by Rev. Ebenezer Afful, a professor at Villa Julie College.
Organizers of Culturefest reflected on Hopkins' needs for a greater show of diversity when planning the week's events.
"Culturefest is a time for Hopkins students to come, represent, and share with the community about their own cultural background," said sophomore co-chair Isi Oribabor.
Our campus is very diverse, yet sometimes it isn't shown at all," Oribabor added. "Every year, Culturefest has been dedicated to portraying the different cultural aspects of the community, and we definitely need to keep it going strong year after year."
The Closing Ceremony will take place at 7pm in the Glass Pavilion on Saturday, November 20th. This event requires a free ticket, which can be picked up at Mattin 210 starting Nov 11.
