Affair of the Arts Week opens with Chinese New Year of the Goat

Written by Sudyen Navarrete/Contributing Writer

Biscayne Bay Campus will be celebrating the many faces that art has to offer with the Affair of the Arts Week — created for students, professors and faculty to explore and enjoy the arts.

The Arts Week is an event celebrated annually by the Student Programming Council of BBC bringing together different types of arts, such as music, culture and paintings.

The five-day event will open with the Chinese New Year Celebration — since it has approached.

The Arts Week is providing students with information about the Chinese New Year, in which they’re welcoming the Year of the Goat which begins on Feb. 19, 2015 through Feb. 9, 2016.

The Chinese-theme event comes along with dragons, cultural food, entertainment and monks. “Tibetan Buddhist monks will construct a Mandala Sand painting, which includes a breath-taking opening and closing ceremony, ” said Michael Aquino – Cultural and Fine Arts Director of SPC.

Mandala Sand painting is mainly practiced in Buddhism and Hinduism, and is done for spiritual and ritual purposes. A small group of monks gather around a wooden surface to begin outlining the mandala which takes a day to complete. From there, sand is poured from “chak-purs” or metal funnels causing the surface to vibrate and for the sand to flow around creating a painting.

The monks will be on campus for the first four days of the Arts Week to finish off the sand painting. Many students are not familiarized with Chinese culture or their art; this event is the perfect chance to experience it, as well as for those who are into the arts.

After asking students if they knew what the Chinese New Year is about, the majority weren’t quite sure of the meaning behind it or why China celebrates the New Year different from our American traditions. Some students did know though, “I think it’s a nice tradition to celebrate every year, they wear the same color, families get together and everyone eats the same meal. I wish in the United States, there will be a nice tradition like that,” said Traci Clayton, a student majoring in psychology.

SPC wants to ensure that students learn and enjoy the events mutually.

“We want to be able to target every student as much as we can, ” said Kaytien Franco, a graduate student of public relations and SPC collaborator.

It is important to the SPC to have University students open their minds to different cultures and diversity. SPC will host the Chinese New Year celebration along with other events that will expose students to the performing, visual, experimental and musical arts.

According to Aquino, students will be able to learn how to dance bachata, salsa, kompa and belly dancing, and experience the first ever Tunnel of Oppression. The Tunnel of Oppression will be a challenging experience for students to open their minds.

According to Franco, the tunnel will be very interactive and the Wolfe University Center Ballroom is going to be designed into a tunnel with different rooms covering different topics, such as LGBT rights, to demonstrate that oppression is something that must be addressed, but only society can put an end to it.

Then there’s “Motown: The Musical, ” a Broadway hit that will entertain and tell the story of Berry Gordy, a music and record producer from Detroit, Michigan whom rose to the top with his record label and associations with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

According to Aquino, the Arts Week started in 2011. It launched as a single event and from there it has grown into a one-week art celebration. SPC has been able to involve students into these events by making it fun and exciting along with food and great giveaways.

“FIU-BBC is definitely worlds ahead with their varied forms of programming, ” Aquino said.

The Chinese New Year Celebration will be held at BBC Panther Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23.  It’s free for students, professors and faculty. For more information visit www.bbcclo.fiu.edu

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