Weekend festival celebrates cultural diversity

The two-day cultural festival “Let Freedom Sing” over the weekend attracted hundreds of visitors that came to check out the impressive number of song performances and art demonstrations at the Multi-Purpose Center.

The festival—the first of its kind in the CNMI—saw an unending parade of people trooping to the Multi-Purpose Center to witness the weekend festival of fun and entertainment provided by different ethnic groups in the CNMI.

Mistresses of ceremonies 2008 Miss Marianas Teen Ariel St. Clair and 2008 Miss Marianas Teen first runner up Ashley Castro both introduced a wide number of cultural performances.

Some of the group performances were from the Mount Carmel Chamorro Class, United Filipino Organization, the Marianas Baptist Academy, Te Kanahau Nui, Northern Marianas College Cultural Club, Inatuas, Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ, Koblerville Elementary School, Super Mario Brothers, Northern Marianas Academy, and the Saipan Community School.

Solo performances included Sakurako Halstead, Erica Tubero, Shin Kimura, Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Nicollete Lopez, and Leilani Cepeda.

As cultural song and dance presentations were being performed inside the Multi-Purpose Center, live cultural demonstrations were also keeping the guests entertained outside the premises.

Art demonstrations included banana art painting, Samoan print board on fabric, coconut oil making, Micronesian traditional skirt weaving, sand art painting, coconut art painting, tangan tangan jewelry, coconut weaving, origami art, talaya throwing, Carolinian beadwork making, Tahitian ti-leaf hipsters, Carolinian coconut head crowns, coconut candy, Japanese soba noodle making, and Kendo demonstrations.

The cultural demonstrations were intended to expand people’s understanding of other people’s origins and cultural heritage.

The Let Freedom Song Festival was sponsored by the NMI Council for the Humanities as part of a series of projects funded by the We the People Grant titled “From Many, One: Exploring Democracy in a Multicultural Commonwealth.”

Other upcoming Council projects include “Democracy Considered,” which is a series of community discussions in which community members are afforded an opportunity to examine different issues relating to democracy in the Commonwealth.

Another activity is the “Back to Basics Program,” which will feature public lectures given by the recognized local and international experts focusing on the basics of democracy.

With funding from the National Endowment Fund for the Arts, the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture played a key role in the organization of the Let Freedom Sing Festival as it provides the financial and logistical support needed for the event.

NMICH was awarded the We the People Grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the projects was organized by Taro Leaf, Inc.