On Friday, Feb. 27, the Multicultural Festival was given a $5,000 grant after waiting four months. Previously, junior Yoslen Robaina Santana presented the Multicultural Festival to the members of the city council in hopes of receiving this grant on Sept. 22 of last year.
“Yeah, I did believe that the multicultural festival would receive it, because for a few years now, the multicultural festival has probably been one of the biggest city events,” senior festival planner Radhe Patel said. “It has been a school event, but has also been a citywide event at the same time, with attendees of various ages, and I’ve noticed that it has attracted a lot of adults; most of the time they bring their children as well.”
With the Multicultural Festival growing in both popularity and funding, it has hit the radars of the local government. Some members of the planning committee are starting to feel some pressure with these added expectations.
“I think there has been a lot of added pressure since we have more money, we can do more things, leading our budget and where to allocate it being our main focus,” Patel said. “ It also goes deeper than just the money, I mean, now we have expectations to meet from outside sources, including members of the community.”
Other members of the committee like the challenge that such an opportunity gives them.
“I think it’s less about the pressure than it is that we have more responsibility in making our festival, city, and community look better than it did before,” Chinese teacher Chunmei Guan said. “ We get a chance to exceed expectations placed on us and potentially receive more funding for the festival in the future.”
While the pressure of external expectations is high, it doesn’t compare to the expectations that the committee said they’ve placed on themselves.
“My expectations are very high,” Santana said. “We want to meet the city’s standards and, more importantly, the standards we’ve set for ourselves. We want to make sure that all cultures are represented, students get the chance to have a voice, and that we celebrate diversity and culture as a whole.”
The Multicultural Festival has been supported by the clubs that reside within LHS. This year, the committee hopes that most, if not all, clubs join and help the festival.
“I want to give every student and every club within our community a chance, including those of the middle school and maybe even the primary school, ” Guan said. “We want to reach out to our whole community this year.”
With such an increase in budget and large amounts of support from the students, Guan urges more members of the community who want to participate and help other booths or display their culture to join.
“If you’d like a chance to display your culture in the community, please communicate with us, ” Guan said. “We want to support and uplift you. The whole point of our festival is to make sure every little bit of our community is respected and represented.”
Members of the committee have seen the festival as a way to unite students in times when there is a large political divide within the community.
“We are in a tough time right now, specifically politically,” Santana said. “If we can show our community and those around us that there is an end to these tough times, I think it’s beautiful.”
