IUPUI

Third Annual IUPUI International Festival Set for February 27

INDIANAPOLIS - Experience the vibrant and growing international identity of IUPUI at the third annual IUPUI International Festival on Tuesday, February 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival will occur in three adjoining locations: University College 115, the Lower Level of University College, and the Connector corridor between the University Library and the Business/SPEA building.

This year's festival will include an open mike for international music and dance, a photography exhibit by IUPUI Study Abroad students, a best-dressed contest, interactive displays and information tables, free ethnic food, music, dance, and international games, crafts, and art.

Nearby in the University College cafeteria, you can also hear the music and learn about the history of Black culture in America at "Black History in Music," organized by the Black History Month Planning Committee and Campus & Community Life. Student performers will take you through the decades from jazz, blues, rock, hip hop, and rap from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

An exhibit of pictures taken by IUPUI students while studying abroad will open the festival at 10 a.m. a.m. in UC 115. The exhibit features images from the 2006 Study Abroad photo contest. You will also be able to take home these amazing photos-the Study Abroad Office will be selling packages of note cards with all eight images. Refreshments will be served.

Student organizations participating in the International Festival include the African Student Association, Burma Student Association, Chinese Culture Club, Democracy Plaza, GO ABROAD, Immigration Law Society, Indian Student Association, International Club, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Latino Student Association, Native American Student Association, Russian Speaking Student Association, Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, and the South Asian Student Association.

Schools and campus units participating include Campus & Community Life's award-winning To Mexico With Love program, the Schools of Education, Engineering & Technology, SPEA, Liberal Arts, and Social Work, ELS Language Centers, Herron School of Art, the IU-Kenya Partnership, the Office of International Affairs, the Center on Philanthropy, the Center on Southeast Asia, and the Office of Study Abroad.

Ambassadors for Children will also be present.

Global Gifts will sell items from cooperatives around the world in the University College lobby, and free-trade coffee will be available through Mission Coffee and Tea Company. Samples of fair-trade chocolate will be available, courtesy of Indianapolis-based Endangered Species Chocolate Company. The Peace Learning Center is loaning IUPUI their portrait collection for the festival.

IntoSalsa will offer free salsa dancing lessons at 12:15 and 1:15 in the University Library Connector.

There will again be an International Best-Dressed Contest in which participants are encouraged to don their ethnic and/or national clothing with an opportunity to win a $25 IUPUI Bookstore gift card. Categories include Best-Dressed Male, Best-Dressed Female, and Best-Represented Student Organization. Contestants should check in with the judges' table in UC 115 at any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Sponsored by the IUPUI Office of International Affairs and Campus & Community Life, the festival is designed to let participants hear, taste, see, and feel the faraway lands and cultures represented here at IUPUI. Local restaurants who have generously donated free food samples include African Cuisine (Senegalese), Athens on 86th, Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub, Greek Islands Restaurant, Mix 5 (Iraqi), The Rathskeller, Safari Restaurant (Somali), Shalimar, and Viet Bistro.

Coke products will also be available free of charge, courtesy of Chartwells and Canteen.