The Multicultural Movement Festival

Creation

How the Multicultural Movement Festival came to be...

             In the summer of 2018, my sorority, Omega Phi Beta Sorority Inc., was busy planning our fall semester, when it dawned on me; as a Greek organization, we do plenty of events with other Greeks and granted, some with non-Greek organizations, but we rarely do one altogether. It branches out into different cultural silos. The latinx Greek organizations often partner with latinx non-Greek organizations and Asian oriented Greek organizations often partner other Asian cultural non-Greek organizations, so on and so forth, but what about cross-cultural? I wanted to create an event that brought together every single multicultural organization both Greek and non-Greek. This needed to include organizations such as, Creole Club, Caribbean Culture Exchange, Arab Club, Dominican Students Association and way too many to name, truly around the world was the goal. We agreed that we wanted this event to be both fun and educational. Everyone gets to learn about each other’s culture in the best way we know how, food, song, and dance. We needed performers, tablers, and tons of food from around the world. I knew contacting every organization wouldn’t be an easy feat. With USF being so diverse, there were about 70+ organizations to contact. Shay and I were ready to take on the challenge with our sisters by our side.

              Once the organizations were selected and planning began, we decided on a date. The date that worked for everyone was November, the same month that contained one of the best feasting holidays, Thanksgiving. Though this holiday is great for many, there are plenty of people who won’t get the chance to eat a great meal on Thanksgiving, if at all. According to Feeding America, “In Florida, 2,871,650 people are struggling with hunger - and of them 857,150 are children.” With hunger affecting so many of our neighbors in Tampa, we decided to make this event more than just cultural awareness, but philanthropic too. We concluded that we won’t charge any monetary entrance fee, but instead, people will pay with non-perishable food items!

              Once the day came to host the event, it was a big success and incredible amounts of fun. We raised money through donations and received more than 100 cans of food! After all of the stressful planning came to a close, we decided that this event was something we could host every year and multiply the amount multicultural organizations we bring in. We finally had the first annual Multicultural Movement Festival. Though I may have graduated from USF, Shay and I’s legacy can live on in the Multicultural Movement Festival for years to come.