Students from Bristol University will be celebrating the cultural diversity within the city next week.  Global Fiesta is a unique one-day event that aims to bring people together to experience the wealth of cultures within Bristol through entertainment, interaction and education. 

The event seeks to increase cultural awareness, respect and understanding, with numerous stalls representing different cultures and students demonstrating their skills in activities like henna art, origami and Chinese writing.  Workshops and seminars include drumming and African dancing, corporate social responsibility and Tibetan culture.  The UK Ambassador of Argentina, His Excellency Federico Mirré, will also be speaking on ‘Perspectives from Argentina and Latin America’.

In the evening cultural performances will include student performances from the Chinese Lion Dance Troop together with Latin American ballroom dancing, traditional Thai dance and Morris dancing.

There will also be a Fairtrade coffee lounge with newspapers from around the world, an international photo competition and film exhibition and examples of national dishes for visitors to sample.

All of the proceeds raised will go towards the Hodgkin Scholarship Fund.  The scheme was set up to bring one international student each year, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to leave their home country due to political or social reasons, to come and study at the University.

Sarah Galvin, Vice-President (Welfare) of the Students’ Union, said: “Global Fiesta is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all that is positive about diversity and culture and inform people about the various cultures co-habiting in Bristol. 

Other events taking place as part of Global Fiesta include:

International Women’s Day Benefit Night
DATE: Thursday 10 March
TIME: 8 pm
PLACE: Epi, Students’ Union, Queen’s Road, Bristol
ENTRY: £2 on the door.

A night of bands and DJs to raise money for women’s charities to celebrate and raise awareness of International Women’s Day.

All proceeds raised during the evening will go to charities such as Amnesty International, who are running their “Stop Violence against Women Campaign”, Women’s Aid who work to end domestic violence and Womankind who run a therapy and counselling centre in Bristol.

The Hodgkin Scholarship talk
DATE: Friday 11 March
TIME: 1 pm
PLACE: H H Wills Physics Laboratory, Frank Theatre, Tyndall Avenue

Anthony Kpandu, an ex-Hodgkin Scholar, is coming to Bristol to give a talk on ‘Political psychology and conflict in the Sudan’.

This is a unique opportunity to see how the University’s Hodgkin Scholarship is able to help students in developing countries.  Also speaking will be Karen Glisson from the Windle Trust International, the organisation in charge of student selection for the Hodgkin Scholarship Fund.