A melting pot: Cultures showcased at Frist for the 2001 International Festival

Yes, 400 pieces of sushi for the reception on Thursday."

Listening to Paula Chow, director of the University's International Center, orchestrate the last-minute details for this week's International Festival, one observes the development of an event that, like so many things, started small.

In 1974, before the IC was even in existence, Chow organized a small gathering of faculty and students, providing attendees the opportunity to celebrate their diverse international backgrounds. Seventy people, both students and administrators, attended the event, enjoying traditional ethnic foods and watching a martial arts demonstration.

Chow's idea caught on and became an annual happening, drawing increasing numbers of people each year and moving from its original one-room venue in a house on Ivy Lane, first taking over two floors of Murray-Dodge, then using Dillon Gym, and finally to its home in the newly-opened Frist Campus Center.

Today, 27 years after Chow's initial gathering, the International Festival has evolved into a multi-day and multi-media event, encompassing everything from an international fashion show, to a martial arts demonstration on the Frist patio, to lessons in Scottish dance, to a wide variety of booths showcasing ethnic arts and cultures.

Chow said she is excited about the evolution of the International Festival. "The vision that we had 27 years ago we're seeing happen over an extended period of time in a central place on campus," Chow noted. "I think it's exciting, exuberating, to see it developed in this way. It makes me very happy."

Refusing to take credit for this year's event, Chow instead pointed to Yashih Wu '03, who served as the student organizer in charge of the daunting task of planning the extensive five-day cultural celebration.

Wu noted wryly that she was recruited for the job "as a naive freshman" by two co-members of the Chinese Student Association, both of whom were also involved with the IC. Since early September, Wu has been busy planning this week's activities, and the exhibits and events that have been going on all over Frist are a testament to her many months of hard work and dedication.

"Yashih Wu has done a tremendous job with event logistics, fundraising and organizing," Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Tom Dunne noted in an e-mail. "I am very pleased with the new additions to the program."

Wu organized the five-day event by focusing each of the first four days on a different region of the world: Africa on Tuesday, Europe and the Middle and Near East yesterday, South, Southeast and East Asia today and finally the Americas and Australia tomorrow.

Each day includes interactive exhibit booths, videos and performing arts presentations connected to the region of the day. Saturday, the final day of the festival, celebrates the cultures with a variety show, dance and fashion show.

Helping Wu in planning each of the region-specific days were student project leaders Nneka Offor '03, Chiemeka Ejiochi '03, Keija Parssinen '03, Varanya Chaubey '04, Adura Selamat '04, Keisha White '04 and Smitha Dante '03. One or two project leaders were assigned to oversee each of the four days, organizing such tasks as planning a reading of the Qu'ran and adorning the 11 to 12 daily booths with art, clothing, and even a face-painting table.

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Their involvement with the festival proved a rewarding, if time-consuming, experience, as this year's festival was the largest ever orchestrated. Until last year, the festival was still only a one-day event. "Planning it is quite stressful, but viewing the final product always brings joy," Offer said.

Though the planning was an often hectic venture, the project leaders found many people more than willing to help in making their visions for the festival realities. Offor pointed out that many students took time during their spring break to gather crafts and clothing from their homes that could be displayed during the festival.

The organizers found equal enthusiasm among faculty members. For example, a particular piece of Iranian cloth, draped over one of the many colorful displays on the 100-Level of Frist, was on loan to the festival from Near Eastern studies professor Negin Nabavi. Also, several University professors donated traditional Chinese and Palestinian wedding dresses for the Saturday night fashion show. The Frist staff was also key in the planning of the event, helping the organizers with many logistical and planning issues, Wu said.

The campus center itself proved a wonderful venue for this year's festivities. Parssinen noted in an e-mail, "Now that the festival is using Frist as the main venue, exposure has been great . . . people headed to class or to late lunch will take a few minutes to read posters and look at the displays."

Wu took full advantage of the many resources at Frist in planning this year's festival, projecting pictures of traditional ethnic clothing on the new display board, hanging a clever design of international flags on the outside of the building and working with the dining staff to integrate international foods into the weeks menu, including Turkish coffee, Scandinavian salmon and even an "International Festival" smoothie.

According to Chow, Frist architect Robert Venturi, who has been to the festival, was very excited to see how the students have been able to use the different aspects of the building. "He's just elated," Chow said.

In addition to the daily region-specific exhibits and demonstrations, various special events are taking place throughout the week, such as Global Voices Cafe Night. Scheduled for 8:30 tonight, this event presents a forum for poetry readings and singing performances by various faculty and students.

Wu has been eagerly anticipating tonight's event since its early planning stages, and an unexpected surprise has increased this anticipation: Yusef Komunyakaa, Princeton professor and recipient of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, will be opening the night's festivities.

Wu is also looking forward to Saturday's culminating events, such as the fashion show. "So many cultures have so many wonderful costumes . . . We now have a chance to showcase that," Wu said.

Of the week as a whole, she is pleased that "the atmosphere provided will give you the sense that we are sharing in this rich culture."

Wu has found the student response to the festival quite rewarding. She said, "It's great seeing the expressions on people's faces, seeing them realize, 'This is really cool, I want to learn more about it.' "

Thanks to the dedication of Wu, Chow, the project leaders and all those who helped to set up the International Festival, students and faculty have the chance to do just that.