SU Celebrates Multicultural Festival Week April 30-May 4

SALISBURY, MD---The Salisbury University Office of Multicultural Student Services sponsors Multicultural Festival Week Monday-Friday, April 30–May 4, at the SU campus. This year’s theme is “Unity in the Community.”

The festival opens 8 p.m. Monday, April 30, with Jigu: Thunder Drums of China in Holloway Hall Auditorium. Featuring 28 percussionists and musicians from the Shanxi Province in China, this company shares the fine art of drumming and performance deeply rooted in their culture and Chinese folk traditions. The multi-sensory act involves an intricate blend of traditional and modern musical elements, with high-tech lighting and special effects.

An assortment of performers take over University Hill (beside the Guerrieri University Center) and Pergola during Multicultural Festival Day 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday, May 1. Acts include Keith Marks, Steel Kings, Mystic Warriors, the SU Step Squad and the SU Gospel Choir. The event also features demonstrations in Tae Kwon Do, Hip-Hop air brushing, cultural demonstrations, local vendors and international food samples.

University Dining Services and the Office of Cultural Affairs present a “Cinco on the Second” dinner in the Commons Bistro from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 2. This celebration of Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo three days early costs $9.30 for adults, $5.72 for children ages 6-12. Children under 5 dine free. Reservations are not required.

A celebration Latin dance, “Salsa Magic,” is 7:30 p.m. that evening in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center. This interactive dance party and light show features performers Lee and Nohelia who dance their award-winning Salsa routine of flips, dips and lifts. Students learn Salsa moves to take to the floor with the Salsa, reggae, international, hip-hop and top 40 music of Washington, D.C.’s DJ Gringito.

Thursday, May 3, Dr. Jaiya John keynotes the festival with the presentation “Witnessing Your Self in the World” at 7 p.m. in the Wicomico Room. John defines culture as a person’s way of existing in the world. Culture is composed of the entirety of a person’s existence, including values, experiences, beliefs, ancestry and personality. This definition holds the concept of race to be only one strand in the holistic web of culture and asserts that each human being is truly multicultural.

From this framework John shares a message about the final frontier for humankind: the challenge of recognizing and manifesting the oneness of life within and between people in the context of purposeful individual uniqueness. John's new book, Reflection Pond, a meditation on identity, culture and healing in children separated from their original families, is due for release in June. For more information visit www.soulwater.org.

Friday marks SU’s Cinco de Mayo celebration from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Festivities include face painting, piñatas and soccer, accompanied by Latin and popular music.

All events are free unless otherwise noted. For more information call 410-548-4503 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.