Festival of Cultures
For many, the highlight of the school year is the annual Festival of Cultures held in July, after all examinations have finished. The Festival aims to celebrate the broad diversity of cultures represented in the school community. It also provides students with opportunities to take part in a wide range of activities associated with individual cultures in workshops.
Before 2005, the Festival of Cultures took place during afternoon school, and students attended one workshop. However, the new format of the event sees students have a whole day off timetable, and all students in years seven to ten attend three workshop sessions. Previous workshops have included origami, Bhangra dancing, magic, yoga and pizza making, amongst many more. The 2006 Festival was held on 12 July and included workshops for Hungarian Dance, Opera, Cartoon Drawing, African Dance, Bollywood Film, a visit to a Spanish Restaurant and many more. Prefects and staff supervise individual workshops, whilst Senior Prefects oversee the smooth running of the event as a whole. Senior Prefects also decorate the quadrangle and piazza areas with flags and bunting to add to the festival atmosphere.
The Festival continues into the evening, with current students and their families, staff, old boys, and new students (set to join in September) invited. The evening consists of a programme of entertainment, based largely on the workshops from the day. There are also displays of art work and several food outlets, including a tea shop, a barbecue and the International Food Hall. There are also several stalls, including, for the first time in 2006, a Fair Trade stall.
Read more about this topic: King Edward VI Aston School
Famous quotes containing the words festival of, festival and/or cultures:
“The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)
“Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.”
—Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)