The Global Cultural Club held a Multicultural Showcase on Friday, March 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room. The Global Cultural Club’s Multicultural Showcase has been put on at Keene State for two years, and it allows students to share cultural experiences, traditional attire and the culture and ethnicity that they identify with.
The event included a flag parade, fashion show, singing and dancing performances and finished off with different selections of food.
Senior and General Secretary of Global Cultural Club Rokeya Sarah explained what inspired the club to have a showcase and the role she played in creating it.
“Over the years we have been celebrating cultures one way or the other, but since last year we decided, ‘ Why don’t we celebrate it all together?’” said Sarah. “We started with a flag parade and we all have different attires we want to show everybody. Then we all thought of other cultural things we can do, like food around the world, performances, music and more. We incorporated that into this showcase, and that’s how it came about.”
Additionally, Sarah said she was in charge of the fashion show and singing popular Bangladeshi folk songs.
Sarah shared why it’s important for events like the multicultural showcase to happen in the community and how the events in the showcase bring people together.
“It is important because as international students we try to embrace other cultures,” she said. “Learning about other cultures is fun. There are other things to celebrate and other things to know while being in Global Cultural Club. We get to have fun together and expand beyond the Keene community by bringing people together to understand our culture.”
Junior Nisha Poudel, co-president of Global Cultural Club, explained the planning process for the event.
“We did this showcase last year and decided to continue it this year as well,” Poudel said. “We wanted something similar to Keene International Festival and to continue to keep it a part of our club. The main idea of making a decision for cultures to be incorporated came from the students who participated. We had a QR code for our members to sign up. Some of our e-board presented their culture and had people willing to share their culture with us and sign up to be a part of our event. There were no limitations.”
Poudel said some challenges arose in the process, but they were not too hard to handle. “Making sure it was advertised well to have people in attendance, we did a lot of marketing and reached out to a lot of professors and international faculty or even people on campus. Making strict deadlines is what helped those minor challenges,” said Poudel.
Some students in the audience of the showcase said they felt “connected to all the performances,” and felt “moved” in ways they did not expect.
“The premise of the event and showcasing culture brings people together. I felt connected, it was wonderful,” said junior Ayushma Limbu.
Junior Hunter Rollins expanded on Limbu’s thought and said, “It is really nice to see the different culture and background for people in Keene and putting on performances and what’s really important to them.”
Sophomores Chloe Stewart and Sofia Hayward both agreed that watching the showcase made them want to experience something connected to their own culture, and shared something that stood out to them in the showcase.
“The performance that stood out to me was the last girl who performed, Su,” said Hayward. “Her voice was beautiful. I thought all around everyone did a wonderful job and the outfits were beautiful. After watching this I want to embrace my culture more in a unique way.”
Stewart agreed with Hayward. “I loved watching everyone be connected to their culture,” she said. “It made me feel connected with them. I cried at the last performance. Su did a beautiful job, her attire and voice made me want to learn more about my culture.”
Tamy Jacques can be contacted at
tjacques@kscequinox.com
