MOST OUTSTANDING CULTURAL PROGRAM NOMINEE
university of mississippi vietnamese american student association
culture show
Describe the cultural program and how it meets the mission and goals of the organization. Details MUST include: Date of event, number of participants, program purpose (i.e. goals and objectives), member involvement, use of resources, and marketing techniques.
Culture Show is Ole VASA’s annual Lunar New Year celebration and the largest cultural event of the year. This year it was held on Saturday, February 17th at our student union and included a variety of foods, activities, and performances. Starting at 5PM, attendees were able to try a variety of foods and drinks catered from local Asian restaurants. Before performances, there were many activities to keep attendees involved like lantern painting, fan painting, and origami. There was also a table for bầu cua cá cọp where each player, starting with 10 tickets, could win prizes like plushies, food, and Ole VASA merch. This was by far the most active table and kept everyone engaged. By the time performances started at 7PM, we had around 100 attendees from not only Ole VASA but the Ole Miss community as well. Performances included fan dance, lion dance, and karaoke. Our general members volunteered to coordinate practices, choreograph, and perform for Culture Show, and volunteers handled setting up decorations and distributing food. Karaoke was open to the crowd. Since COVID and possibly even before then, this was the largest turnout for Culture Show that we’ve seen. Culture show was marketed through our social media pages, general meetings, flyers around campus, and word-of-mouth between the executive board to the general members and their friends.
How did this cultural program serve the campus and/or community?
Culture Show mainly focuses on providing a celebration for those who celebrate Lunar New Year, the biggest and most important holiday in Vietnam. We wanted to create an environment where students who were not able to go home to their families to celebrate would be able to experience festivities and food. For those who were able to go home, they were able to experience one of our long lasting traditions and celebrate Lunar New Year with their new-found friends. Even if our event was catered towards the Asian community, we welcomed and encouraged everyone to come whether they typically celebrated Lunar New Year or not. Along with the games and hands-on activities that were available, we had an educational presentation about the history and significance of the holiday. Through our Associated Student Body, we were able to support local Asian restaurants including a Thai restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, a Vietnamese-owned boba shop, and Vietnamese-owned hibachi food truck.
Did the organization overcome any challenges that arose while planning and implementing the cultural program/event? How?
When ordering the decorations, they were estimated to arrive a week or two before the event; however when checking on the order status, the date changed to a week after the event. Luckily, our culture chair caught it before it was too late and came up with ideas for new centerpieces and entrance decoration. We were able to order more decorations from Amazon while utilizing our inventory from previous years. Coincidentally, our original decorations did come in on time as well, but our culture chair quickly had to come up with new designs and layouts for the venue.