The 9^th Annual International Institute’s Festival of Nations was an enormous success! Tower Grove Park was filled to its brim with more than 100,000 people who came together for the multicultural festival. One festivalgoer described it as “Everybody’s party!”  More than 70 cultures were represented in the Festival’s dance, art, food, crafts, music and sport.

There were some special volunteers at the Festival of Nations this year – five newly arrived refugees from Bhutan gave their time in Citizens’ Square, a civic engagement activity center. These refugees were resettled by the International Institute St. Louis less than a year ago, and they are already giving back! One Bhutanese volunteer, Rangha, said “It was wonderful to volunteer in the United States of America.”  You can read more about the Bhutanese refugee situation here.

Here are links to just a few articles/videos about the Festival:

St. Louis Chinese American News

Bosnian Media Group

KSDK

By Ann Rynearson

 

This year’s stage line-ups are lead by several major dance performances. Eileen Wolfington is organizing a “Fiesta Mexicana” to celebrate, as she says, “the complex heritage of different regions of our neighbor to the south.”

Diadie Bathily, the famous dancer-presenter from Mali will be leading a special, choreographed performance of Afriky Lolo and bringing in a special guest artist direct from the Ivory Coast.  Grupo Atlantico brings music, songs and dances of the Colombian coast to the stage, including a Carnaval celebration featuring masked dancers. In addition, Soorya Performance Company is bringing a troupe of professional dancers and musicians to present the best of classical Indian traditions. Along with so many other strong troupes in the local area, this should be an “all star” show. 

The World Music Stage brings a performance of one of St. Louis’ most popular groups—world percussion group Joia. Look for them early Sunday. Many other popular local “world beat” troupes also appear, including French jazz-based Poor People of Paris, the haunting notes of Native American bone flutes of Autumn’s Child, Iranian- Gypsy-Latin tunes from Farshid and Friends and Latin rhythms of Clave Sol and Samba Bom. 

In the crafts area, the festival-long exhibit will be the process of making fantastic masks from Puebla, Mexico, said to be the embodiment of bad dream-spirits brought to life only to drive themaway. On a rotating basis, we’ll have demos and workshops of Kiowa bead and quill work, Mandingo tie dying, Chinese painting, German woodcarving and pinch pottery and Mexican sugar skulls used for the Day of the Dead.

By Ann Rynearson, Festival Director

As I write this, Festival of Nations is almost here– barely three weeks away! It’s going to be one of the most exciting in years. Last year’s fairgoers will be pleased to hear we have made major changes in the layout to accommodate our growing crowds. Please try to attend (or even better, volunteer), because the entertainment, food, gifts and children’s activities are all bigger and better than ever. 

Right now, I am working 24-7 on the artistic program. You’ll be glad to hear that a record ten refugee ethnic groups are represented: Afghani, Albanian, Bosnian, Colombian, Eritrean (though not Kunama yet), Ethiopian, Haitian, Liberian, Sierra Leonean, and Vietnamese. Despite strenuous effort on the part of caseworkers, artists from the Turkish, Kunama, Karenand Somali communities were not yet quite ready to play a role, though we will have a Burmese food booth.  

It typically takes at least three to four years after arrival for a new community to be ready to participate. I know we’re all eager to see more of the rich culture brought here by all the new groups. One of the advantages to the cycle is that it means the festival is always growing as refugee populations get settled. After a few years, they start restaurants or community organizations, and they want to sell their wares or share their unique spices with St. Louis! Some choose to do it to raise funds to support their organizations. Others use the experience as a starting-off point for their own small businesses.

Stay tuned for Diary of a Festival Director, Part 2, which will be posted on Friday, August 15

This week we start a news series of posts from guest bloggers who are new volunteers and interns at the International Institute. Over the summer you will be hearing about their adventures and reflections on their work with the immigrants and refugees of the IISTL. We hope you’ll stay tuned.

Today’s post comes to us from Ashley Mace, who is a rising Senior at Lafayette High School. 

Making the journey from my humble middle-class abode to the International Institute not only serves as a time for me to listen to Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits but also as a journey into the most fascinating part of my week. It begins with a turn out of my subdivision filled with cookie-cutter houses, lawns of meticulously cut grass, and children playing with the latest and greatest of toys. I drive a bit further then enter onto the highway overflowing with expensive new cars passing each other, racing in agitation to get to work on time. Finally I see that glorious exit for Grand Blvd. and I turn down the volume on “Piano Man” just to take in the sights and the atmosphere. Although I’ve just eaten my breakfast for the day I can’t help but wish it was lunchtime as I drive past a few ethnic food markets and the Kabob restaurant I have been setting my sights on for a couple of weeks. And alas, here I am, at the intersection of all corners of the earth, entirely separate from our normal busy and materialistic culture, at the International Institute. 

Coming from the suburbs, my idea of diversity unfortunately consisted of ordering takeout Chinese on a Friday night. Then I enter into this entirely new world where people of all nations, backgrounds and walks of life congregate in their native dress to take an English class or secure a loan on their new small business. It is the perfect blend of honoring heritage but looking forward to new life in this great country of opportunity. These people have experienced things my peers and I cannot even begin to imagine from war to starvation to poverty, usually in the refugee camp that kept them from an even harsher life. You can see the pain in some eyes but often behind that dim shadow lays a different thing, a much greater thing. Behind that shadow lays hope for the future and for a new life.

The phenomenal staff at the Institute has a heart that beats for these clients and for making their transition to life in America easier. Many of them come from similar backgrounds in countries of conflict and actually made use of the services they now offer. It’s no wonder they came back to work here; this center is a truly integral part of the

St. Louis community that continues to shift and mold our city to be representative of the entire world instead of merely our Western ideals. Some people may be scared of change but I am convinced that international diversity of this kind will teach us about others and push our community to become more informed and cohesive. To this purpose and vision I will continue to make the trek out to the most interesting, crazy, and ambitious center of its kind, the International Institute.

April 2008

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Bhutanese refugees make St. Louis home

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Business Section): Small Businesses find it tougher to get tiny loans

Vital Voice: New American Neighborhoods/Enclaves

SabaH: INTERNACIONALNI INSTITUT PROSLAVIO JOŠ JEDNU GODIŠNJICU