Annual CultureFest brings people together through ethnic food, live music, featured speakers

The first 2,500 people to enter the IU Auditorium for CultureFest today will receive an IU "Unidiversity" T-shirt.\nBut students could go home with a lot more than a freebie. Organizers hope to instill an eagerness to meet and understand others.\nThe event provides students with one of the initial glimpses of the cultural diversity on campus with food, dancing and speeches.\nCultureFest begins at 4:30 p.m. today at the IU Auditorium with a video showcasing the University's history and culture. IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm and Gloria Gibson, associate vice chancellor for multicultural affairs, will welcome students.\n"Students don't usually have the opportunity to meet people from various ethnic backgrounds at one event," Gibson said. "(CultureFest) provides this important opportunity to meet representatives from IU's culture centers and interact with faculty and staff."\nGibson will also highlight the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. As students enter the auditorium, they can watch King's speech on a video system that will be set up. \nEric Liu, who was a domestic policy adviser to former President Clinton, will then take the stage as the event's keynote speaker.\nWhile serving in Clinton's administration, Liu helped lead work in crime prevention, education and other issues in addition to being a global policy speechwriter for the president during his first term.\n"With (Liu's) extensive background, he will certainly bring a real knowledge of global issues and he'll show how we are living in a world where diversity is crucial," Gibson said. "I hope his talk will challenge students to understand our community a little better."\nLiu also founded the How We Teach Initiative, a project to develop effective and powerful teaching methods for a variety of professions. His repertoire also includes the directing role for legislative affairs at the National Security Council.\nAfter Liu's lecture, the celebration segment of CultureFest begins outdoors at Showalter Fountain and the Fine Arts Plaza, where students will receive tickets for free food and henna tattoos.\nSeven food areas featuring IU's many different cultural centers and student groups will prepare a variety of ethnic cuisines representing the particular group. Aromas of Latino and Asian food -- in addition to traditional pizza and hamburgers -- will fill the plaza as students can learn, eat and mingle.\nIn addition to the cuisine sampling, the event will feature several musical performances, including the Latino musical group Orquestra Son, IU Swing Club, Afro Hoosier International, Native American and Korean drumming and Straight No Chaser, IU's popular men's a cappella group.\n"All of the performers and dancers are connected with IU, which is important because we want to show the students what IU has to offer," said Melanie Payne, associate director of orientation programs and director of Welcome Week. "This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate being at IU -- a chance to hear music, have food and join in the celebration."\nAnthony Scott, multicultural marketing strategist in the Office of Communications, encourages students to attend the event because he said it's eye-opening and will show new students the immense resources available on campus.\n"Students should be comfortable walking up to others on campus and introducing themselves," Scott said. "This is one event that will help the incoming students open their eyes to all of what IU has to offer."\nScott emphasized that the classroom isn't the only place for learning.\n"The education at IU isn't all about the books, it's also about knowing other cultures and races and how to get along with them," Scott said. "CultureFest is the optimal opportunity to engage in this."\n-- Contact staff writer Maura Halpern at mhalpern@indiana.edu.