Transfer student Jacob Bissey, or Voltan the Indestructible as he originally introduced himself, went around to the hundreds of freshmen students performing magic at Showalter Fountain on Thursday during Culture Fest.
Culture Fest, one of the final events of Welcome Week for students new to IU, is geared to expose students to the many groups and organizations that focus on an aspect of diversity, according to the Office of First Year Experience.
“I like interacting with people,” Bissey said. “I like to go places with large crowds.”
Bissey said he never intended to go around to the booths at the event, instead expecting to find large audiences so he could perform his talents.
“I find college students are a really good audience,” Bissey said. “I’m planning on doing this throughout the semester, and probably for my entire stay here at IU. I’ll be going to, as often as I can, set up a table somewhere with a lot of foot traffic and busk.”
Busking is the act of doing tricks and then at the end of the show passing around a hat to collect tips.
“I doubt I’ll be able to pay off my loans that way, but here’s hoping,” Bissey said.
Many other students were circling the various booths throughout the event and attempting to take advantage of the plentiful free food opportunities.
First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, the Office of International Services and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services Office and the Campus Religious Leaders Association all had booths set up at the event.
The Asian Culture Center, Disability Services for Students, La Casa Latino Cultural Center, Residence Hall Association and Neal Marshall Black Culture Center also all had stations set up at the event.
Students were supposed to receive an email informing them to arrive at the IU Auditorium promptly at 4:30 p.m., in time to enter the venue.
When inside the IU Auditorium, students watched a presentation and received a number of tickets they could cash in for free food and items at the different booths.
The problem many students complained about, however, was that they never seemed to receive the email informing them to arrive at the IU Auditorium promptly at 4:30 p.m. from the Office of First Year Experience.
“I check my email hourly or whenever it just pops up, and I didn’t get anything related to Culture Fest specifically,” said Claire Little, a freshman at the event. “Nothing said we needed to be at 4:30 p.m., and I feel there was some poor communication.”
Little said she had arrived at Culture Fest at 4:40 p.m.
Upon arrival she said she was told she would be unable to go into the IU Auditorium to see the presentation and receive her tickets.
Little, therefore, said she wasn’t given the opportunity to receive the free items that surrounded her.
“My hopes are high for some more free food later in the week, but at least we can enjoy the bands and now some free magic also,” Little said.
Little had stopped to see Bissey performing in front of a large group of students, gearing up a crowd larger than the crowds surround some of the booths at the time.
“I just came because this is where all the people were, and I wanted to expose my talents for as many people as possible,” Bissey said.
He said his dream is to become the next Penn Jillette.
Jillette is the famous magician that makes up half of the duo of Penn and Teller.
Bissey said that long before Jillette met Teller, when he was in high school, he used to make his money juggling on the street.
At the end of this juggling career, Jillette brought a shoe box full of money to an accountant to pay his taxes. The total money collected was nearly $10,000.
“Nobody makes that much money juggling on the street, so now I have to defy odds and do the same with magic,” Bissey said. “Culture Fest is one of my first stops on this journey.”
Freshman Vasisht Narayan, along with a crowd of people watching the magic show, said she wanted to see what was going on in the hopes of scoring free food as well.
“I saw a card change in someone’s hand, which was cool, but I’m still on the search for some free food,” Narayan said.
Bissey, however, said he didn’t mind the lack of food options at the festival.
He said he was grateful for the free water, but he really came for the people and to meet as many people as he could.
