The Gustavus International Cultures Club, also known as ICC, was lauded for its remarkable, well-organized International Festival which was hosted this past Saturday.
The night featured student-led musical performances, dances, trivia, and food from around the world, along with a fashion show and educational displays meant to celebrate world cultures.
The International Cultures Club is a student organization that, according to the group’s mission statement on the Gustavus website, “brings international and American students together to promote international awareness and appreciation of different cultures.”
ICC does so not only through its annual International Festival, but through a number of events throughout the year that celebrate and bring light to different cultures, such as the upcoming Hmong Festival on Saturday, November 18th.
“Highlighting and celebrating this sense of cultural diversity through the International Festival is part of what makes the ICC such an important Gustavus organization,” ICC Co-President, Ayushi Kalyani said.
“I feel this is important [cultures] everyone’s so interested in International that everyone comes together. They just show some appreciation, they get to try new food — so I think it’s really important that we carry this on every year,” ICC Co-President said.
This year, the festival’s main show featured a variety of engaging performances, including Vietnamese and Russian songs, a German rap piece, and several traditional dances from around the world, among others.
These performances were a big hit as visitors witnessed traditional, modern, and folk dances, along with beautiful songs sung by talented individuals. The fashion show was also a spectacle in which students modeled traditional clothing from around the world. They walked in pairs while strutting toward the stage wearing authentic traditional clothing.
“I think so far my favorite thing is the clothes,” Multilingual and Intercultural Program Coordinator Carly Overfelt, who attended the event, said. “Seeing people represent their culture and background and kind of picking out and trying to guess who’s from where and seeing things I’ve never seen before.”
While the night featured opportunities for visitors to try new foods from around the world and see a number of fun and engaging student performances, it also served an educational purpose.
Upon entrance to the event, visitors could choose to pick up a “passport” and get stamps from cultural displays and presentation booths.
Throughout the night, participants were able to participate in trivia or submit their stamped passports into a series of raffle drawings for prizes, including Gustie Gear and gift cards to the BookMark.
This passport activity was a highly popular and engaging part of the Festival for students, and gave many the opportunity to learn something new about world cultures and countries.
“I learned that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they have like five different languages, and like, everybody has to know more than one,” First-year Jocelyn Jaimez said. “And they also have lots of different types of money and sometimes it can be difficult to pay for things depending on what kind of money you have. But my other favorite things were just eating the delicious food and seeing everybody and their different talents, and it was really awesome.”
“It might be the only time in a semester where we can see so much of the representation of diversity on our campus,” Overfelt said.
The Festival proved just as enjoyable for ICC members and performers themselves, who spent a great deal of time setting up for the event, as well as learning dances and rehearsing for the night’s show.
It took over two months to put the whole festival together, as members of ICC were divided into Performance, Food, Marketing, and Fashion Show commitees. The performers took time out of their schedules in order to provide joyful entertainment.
“For me, because I was performing, I think rehearsal was my favorite,” Kalyani said. “Because there were times when we’re just like, literally dying, but then there are nights where we’re so excited that we cannot sleep!”
In the midst of all of the food, music, and fun, the core message of the ICC and the Festival was definitely not lost on those who attended. It was an experience one could never forget.
“I think it’s so important to learn about different cultures, not only knowing but appreciating and understanding,” Jaimez said. “Because, let’s be real — we’re all in this world together. So I think it’s really important and really cool to see people share what they’re proud of.