Club members, staff, and culture enthusiasts alike joined together Friday afternoon at Feldman Ballroom to present, celebrate, and express themselves in the Culture Fair, an annual event that works to bridge the gap between the undergraduate population and groups that support cultural identity and personal interests.
This event, cosponsored by numerous campus and community organizations and hosted by UR juniors Janelly Andrade-Gonzales and John Conduah of the SA senate, featured cultural organizations, global food, UR-themed prizes, and flashy performances.
“The community as a whole kinda comes together for this one big event,” Andrade-Gonzales told the Campus Times. “It seems that everyone is very proud of their culture and their identity.”
The Culture Fair highlighted foods from around the world, such as empanadas, and featured performances from South Asian dance group Rangoli, street dance group Freeflow, and classical Chinese dance group Phoenix Fire.
Applause erupted through the crowd after each performance, and throughout the event the ballroom was abuzz with conversation, laughter, and music.
One attendee, senior Ali Alsaidi, noted that he “immediately saw a lot of smiles, [and] a lot of mouths full of food, which means everybody is having a good time.”
Each club decorated tables to illustrate what they represent, showing off related items ranging from hand-made piñatas crafted by the Mexican Students’ Association (MESA) to VR headsets from StudioX used to immerse students in virtual reality.
Seniors Christy Bresnahan, Salvika Rayamajhi, Fatima Gonzalez, and Kavira Musongera, who tabled the booth for the Center for Education Abroad, used their experiences studying abroad to emphasize the importance of cross cultural literacy.
“As the world is becoming increasingly more global, cross cultural communication is a huge soft skill,” Bresnahan said. “We learned a lot about cultures other than our own [while studying abroad], and we wanted to promote the same thing.”
