Festival Award Winners Announced

Here are the award winners for this year's International Festival, hosted by the Nationalities Council of Indiana.

Cultural Booths of NCI Group Members are judged in the following four categories:

1. THEME: Include in cultural booth historical, geographical, culinary, social or educational aspects of the particular culture. 2010 theme: Food for Thought - Tradition, Culture and Cuisine.
2. EDUCATIONAL VALUE: Provide relevant information about the culture.
3. CREATIVITY: Demonstrate an effective and enjoyable method to attract visitors.
4. QUALITY: Overall excellence. Examples would be people in native costumes and friendly approach to visitors.

First and second place winners for theme:
Society for Promotion of Persian Culture and Swedish American Order of VASA

First and second place winners for educational value:
Sons of Norway and German Heritage Society

First and second place winners for creativity:
Korean American Women’s Association and Hungarian Club of Indianapolis

First and second place winners for quality:
Camp Mabuhay (Filipino) and Swiss Club of Central Indiana

In addition, the Best Overall Cultural Booth, recipient of “The Betty” trophy for 2010:
Taiwanese American Association of Indianapolis

Food Booths of NCI Group Members are evaluated for quality and authenticity of ethnic food, appearance and sanitary conditions and overall assessment.
First Place: Indonesian Association of Indianapolis
Second Place: German American Klub

Finally (but not insignificantly), the NCI's Volunteer Service award (also known as “The Steve” trophy) is presented to the individual(s) who have demonstrated commitment to the goals of NCI and have actively worked toward their achievement. This year, for the first time, three volunteers were honored:
Josef Laposa and Frances Russell (pictured), and Charles Lindgren (deceased).

Mark your calendars for next year's festival, to be held 17-20 November.

(Photo courtesy of Ming Russell)

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"Faces of America" at IUPUI

"Faces of America" will be presented at 7 p.m. 27 August in the Madam Walker Theater, Indianapolis. Written entirely from interviews and workshops held across the country, it has been described as the first truly multicultural portrayal of Americans ever created.

It tells the stories of:

* a "Happa" (Japanese-Hungarian) who begins to understand her heritage through her grandfather's story of immigration and subsequent internment in the Japanese American war camps
* a young Latino seeks to challenge the stereotypes of coming from the barrio
* an East Indian American woman whose hope of living in a caste-free society is shattered by an on-campus hate crime
* an African-American man discusses the corollation of racism and socio-economics
* a young liberal white male fights against his father's bigotry and the notion of racism being a white disease
* a Filipina-American doctor learns the impact of patience and religious faith
* "Fuzzy", a mixed-blood, lesbian American whose revolutionary ideas will change the way you think and feel forever!

For more information contact Campus & Community Life, 317:274-3931. It's one of the "Weeks of Welcome" activities for students returning to classes at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

A Musical Tour of Three Continents

The University of Indianapolis Faculty Artist Series will conclude its 2007-2008 season 7 April with a whirlwind tour of three continents.

The free concert features music of French, Spanish, Hungarian and Argentinean composers, along with the premiere of a newly commissioned work by Assistant Professor John Berners (at right), who teaches music composition at UIndy.

Highlights will include soprano Kathleen Hacker performing the music of Saint-Saëns, Marko Petričić playing works by Soler and Ginastera on the bayan accordion, and the premiere of Berners’ Divertimento for oboe, trombone and string bass. Harry Miedema and friends conclude the evening with a unique jazz rendition of Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

The concert will take place in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of the university's Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis. For more information, call 317:788-3255 or visit the website.

Performers include Kathleen Hacker, soprano; Marko Petričić, bayan accordion; David Bellman, clarinet; Cathryn Gross, clarinet; Louise Alexander, violin; Michael Isaac Strauss, viola; Perry Scott, cello; Pamela French, oboe; Blake Schlabach, trombone; Peter Hansen, bass; Richard Ratliff, piano; Harry Miedema, tenor saxophone; Gary Walters, piano; and Jack Helsley, bass.