The Johns Hopkins Gazette: November 4, 2002
November 4, 2002
VOL. 32, NO. 10

  

CultureFest Opens, Unites Groups on Campus

By Amy Cowles
Homewood
Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

CultureFest returns to the Homewood campus this week for a 10-day-long schedule of events designed to recognize and promote understanding about various cultures from around the world.

Under a theme borrowed from the familiar Bob Marley song "One Love, One Heart. Let's Get Together and Feel All Right," the 16th annual student-run festival will feature a variety of events, including a club night at the Redwood Trust, the salsa-tinged music of guitarist-composer David Broza and a fashion show featuring students--all designed to steer CultureFest in a new direction while keeping with its core ideals, its organizers said.

Committee members Grace Chiou, Daniel Winnick, Eun-Ju Lee, Jennifer Saito and Connie Everett prepare for CultureFest. Christina Pommer, not shown, is also on the committee.

"What we really want to do is unite the cultural groups on campus," said sophomore Jennifer Saito, an international studies major who is entertainment chair for CultureFest. "There are so many groups on campus, but we don't always work together. There are a lot of stereotypes we all have that we have to get rid of. So we are reaching out to each other and showing each other support."

To that end, the CultureFest committee, led by co-chairs Connie Everett, a junior majoring in public health, and Grace Chiou, a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering, worked together to co-sponsor events with several groups on campus.

New this year, Club Night is being presented from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, by the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Inter-Asian Council. Broza's Nov. 13 performance in Shriver Hall is co-sponsored by Hopkins Hillel, the Jewish Students Association and the Hopkins Organization for Programming. A lecture by Arun Gandhi on Nov. 12 is co-sponsored by the MSE Symposium, Amnesty International, Multicultural Student Affairs and the South Asian Society of Hopkins. And the Culture Show on Saturday, Nov. 9, in Shriver Hall--the perennial favorite showcasing individual students' culturally based talents--brings together members of several groups on campus.

"We wrote our proposal shortly after Sept. 11, 2001," Everett said. "We really wanted to create a program that would bring all of the different Hopkins groups together to participate. It has turned out to be a group collaboration."

Among other events on the agenda are a hip-hop concert by the Isaias on Friday, Nov. 8, and a discussion led by Chaplain Sharon Kugler on "Destructive Religion."

CultureFest begins at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 6, with a performance by the Gospel Choir in Shriver Hall. The fest's opening ceremony is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, in the Glass Pavilion. A banquet, also in the Glass Pavilion, will bring CultureFest to a close at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16. Tickets to the banquet are $12 in advance ($15 at the door) for students; $15 for staff and faculty. For ticket requests and more information, send an e-mail to jhuculturefest@yahoo.com.


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