This free event is a chance to get to know the cultures taking up residence on campus and in the community. According to Hiroyuki Kajino, the event’s coordinator, 22 cultures representing Asia, Africa, the Americans and the south Pacific Islands, will be in attendance. "They’ll be sharing arts and crafts from their countries and a lot will be sharing traditional food for people to sample."
The event is also a chance for cultures to share their traditions and for local residents to explore the world without leaving Arcata.
“It’s hard to feel the ethnic diversity in this community, as a whole. So this event is one where people with a lot of different cultures get together and you can feel and see the diversity. We don’t usually have that chance, so I think it’s pretty important,” said Kajino.
The festival has historically drawn hundreds to the University Center with the tabling portion occupying the Karsher Lounge and a series of performances taking place in the Kate Buchanan Room.
“There will be dancers, musicians and even a demonstration of Aikido, which is a Japanese martial art,” said Kajino.
The festival is just one of the ways Humboldt State is recognizing its burgeoning global population, which has quadrupled in recent years to almost 135 international students enrolled at HSU.
In November, International Education Week students can earn academic credit by participating in any of several workshops offered on topics ranging from geography, Peace Corps service. Participants also get a chance to simply hanging out with students from the many study-abroad programs HSU offers. And the campus’s International Programs and Extended Education offices offer many ways for HSU students to travel abroad.
Saturday’s International Cultural Festival is a zero-waste event, with HSU Dining Services providing reusable dishware and the Campus Recycling Program on hand to handle composting and other waste removal.
For more information, visit http://www.humboldt.edu/clubs/club_sites/ICF09