Camosun College is no stranger to events from different cultures; the college’s annual Cultural Showcase is no exception. The event gives Camosun students from all over the world a chance to educate and present their culture to a large audience.
Second-year Mechanical Engineering student Djibril Diallo says that the festival, which has been running for almost a decade, mostly consists of international students working together to show off their countries.
“The showcase is organized with the help of Camosun International, but it’s mostly organized by us, the international students,” says Diallo. “One day about 10 years ago, the international students were like, ‘Why don’t we have a talent show to share all of our cultures?’ This is the eleventh edition of the show, but we usually don’t count the first one, since it was not really organized well. After that, Camosun slowly started to take over, and slowly they made it an annual event.”
Second year Associate of Arts and Psychology student Ariel Chau says that the students are all involved in different ways. Chau is a performance coordinator for the showcase and keeps all of the performers up to date on what’s going on with the event.
“My job is to be in contact with all the people who are interested in performing at the showcase. I send them emails and ask them to come to rehearsals, set up their shows at the official showcase, and I also talk to them about what exactly their performance is. What their song is, what the meaning is, and what and where it represents are all important,” says Chau.
Chau feels that it’s important that Camosun has events like this because of its large international student population and because it helps make the learning environment more positive for everyone. She also says that sometimes a student blends their culture in with everything else when they come to Canada, so this showcase gives them a chance to proudly show off who they are and where they come from.
“Students have come from their countries and they bring their stories and culture with them. Sometimes, when they come to Canada, they blend in with everyone else here and sometimes don’t get a chance to show their culture,” she says. “We think it would be nice to give them the opportunity to show off their culture and explain, ‘This is how we sing, this is how we dance, how we dress, and how we appreciate traditional things in our country.’”
Diallo echoes that mindset and says that part of the goal of the event is to help people open up and be exposed to different cultures that they may not have had the chance to see otherwise.
“First of all, it’s an easy show to access, it shows talent, so it keeps people entertained. It’s also a very easy way to educate people about the diversity around them,” says Diallo. “Once you expose people to diversity, it automatically changes how they look at things. They change because they are seeing something that is different, but something that is beautiful, and that’s how we believe that minds should open.”
Cultural Showcase
7 pm Friday, March 23
Free, Young 216, Lansdowne campus, Camosun College
camosun.ca