Have fun and celebrate diversity at the Fusion Festival

The Fusion Festival – one of the most exciting events on the Southern Cross University calendar this year – will rock all three campuses next Tuesday, September 11.

Students, staff and members of the general public are all invited to take part in this celebration of the many cultures that make our University and local communities such a diverse and interesting group of people.

From a range of performances and speakers to greyhound racing, tree plantings, dance workshops, soccer games and international ‘fusion’ cuisine, the day promises lots of high-energy fun and entertainment.

Each University campus will deliver its own unique Fusion Festival program but share the underlying theme of embracing diversity. Fusion is part of the Beyond Tolerance project being undertaken across all campuses this year.

On the Lismore campus, the festivities will run from 9am until 6pm, with multicultural entertainment happening in Goodman Plaza from 12pm – 3pm, following the welcome to Kuntri.

Fusion Cuisine – featuring fabulous food from countries including Malaysia, Germany, China, India, the Philippines, Japan and Russia – will be available from stalls in Bundjalung Plaza, outside Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples, from 12pm – 2pm.

Member for Lismore, Thomas George, will take part in a tree planting ceremony with international students outside Magellan College at 10am and there will be the planting of a cherry tree at the Japan Centre.

The day’s festivities will be topped off by a night out with the ‘doggies’ for the running of the Lismore Cup at the Lismore Greyhound Track from 6pm.

At Coffs Harbour campus entertainment will be held outside the D Block Theatre quadrangle, from 12pm – 2pm, with dancers, a SCU drumming group, and a performance by the Nesian Beats. There will be a sushi stall and noodles on the barbecue.

There will be an exchange student information stall and a peer mentoring stall.

The afternoon will offer a soccer game on the oval from 2.30pm – 3.30pm followed in the Aquarium Bar by a ‘meet-and-greet soapbox’, slideshow presentation and belly dancing lessons.

At the Tweed Gold Coast campus, the day’s festivities kick off from 12pm with the ‘Cultural Market Place’ – bringing the world together through food, craft, song and dance.

Activities will run throughout the day, with Filipino song and dance and Irish limericks and tales from 12pm – 1pm; Brazilian capoeira martial arts, songs from Africa and Indigenous dance by youth from 1pm – 2pm; informal storytelling and cultural harmony through the Baha’i faith from 2pm – 3pm; the Desperados 60s, 70s and 80s band from 3pm – 4pm; Indian sari wrapping, music and dance, and informal cultural stories from 4pm – 5pm; and the Bollywood Film Festival from 6pm.

Everyone will be invited to participate in international sports, such as the staff versus students soccer challenge, table tennis, chess and more.

There will be an art exhibition and cultural display of artefacts from students, both international and local, expressing the unique perspectives of diverse cultures.

At the Lismore campus festivities will continue throughout the week. On Wednesday at 1.15pm there will be the screening of the film The Railroad of Love, at the Japan Centre; a salsa dance workshop at Campus Central, from 2pm – 3pm; and an international film night in J Room at the UniBar from 4pm – 10pm.

Thursday’s program offers a Latin percussion workshop, at Campus Central, from 11am – 1pm; a lecture and discussion panel with SCU student and author Zahra Ghahramani, Dr Janie Conway-Herron, Associate Professor Baden Offord and Professor Bee Chen Goh on ‘Human Rights and Education’ from 12.30pm – 2pm in room H1.01. Zahra will be signing her book ‘My Life as a Traitor’ in the Co-op Bookshop at 2.15pm.

Finally, on Friday, from 3pm – 5pm, there is the SCU World Cup Soccer Match on the oval. People are invited to register a mixed team of six at the International Office or OSCA by Thursday.

The Fusion Festival Exhibition will run all week in SCU’s Lismore library exhibition space, level 2, featuring artefacts from the homelands of our students.

For more information go to www.scu.edu.au/fusion.