Performance and cultural pride were the themes of the sixth-annual Cultural Showcase, which the Campus Activities Board put on Thursday night in the IMU.
UI Breakers, University of Iowa Dance Club, Delta Lambda Phi, Iowa Andhi, Hawkapellas, and Old Gold Acapella. Six student organizations, one shindig.
The festivities started at 10 p.m. in the IMU Second-Floor Ballroom on Thursday. CAB kept its initial purpose when starting the show — “to create diversity awareness on campus,” group cultural director Bernardo Duarte said.
“Lots of diverse groups need a platform for performance,” Duarte said. “We accept a wide variety. Like any group that wants to perform, they might get the chance.”
RELATED: Cultural showcase flashes talent
The showcase gives UI students the opportunity to explore other cultures, Duarte said.
“Cultural Showcase helps people to know what kinds of other cultures there are. With that, people will have interests in other cultures and become more open to the difference,” said Rachel Fialko, a member of UI Dance Club. “Speaking for the group, the reason UI Dance Club chooses to perform is because we love to perform, and we want to let people who want to join us to know who we are.”
UI senior Weiwen Chen thinks the events such as this help the UI.
“The university has been improved by these cultural events,” Chen said. “These cultural events give the other culture [a chance to] to perform their own culture through their performance. It’s a chance to experience different cultures other than your own.”
Chen said she’s been both a performer and an audience member, and hosting more of these events makes the UI a more accepting and diverse place.
Diversity at the UI was also one of the most important reasons why Fialko chose to come to the showcase. She said unlike where she went for her freshman year, all kinds of cultural activities made the UI the most diverse environment.
RELATED: UI Japanese program hosts first cultural festival
“This is why I transferred to UI,” she said.
This year, CAB sent out several invitations to performance-based student organizations but ended up with only seven student organizations actually registered. Lots of students organizations ended up choosing not to attend, Duarte said.
“If student organizations want to attend, we will always have room,” he said.
Selection would only happen if the number of student organizations exceeded the capacity of the showcase.
The event opened to the audiences at 9:30 p.m. and started at 10 p.m. Even though many similar showcases happened in the recent weeks, CAB keeps its normal schedule for events — on a late Thursday night.
Duarte emphasized CAB hosted event at the certain time purposely. Thursday night is the time students go out to bars, and CAB tries to attract students to go to activities rather than bars.