Ferris State University’s Office of International Education will be hosting its 33rd Annual International Festival of Cultures this year on June 21, 2021.
This year, we will be hosting the annual International Festival of Cultures virtually on the Twitch platform from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.
You can log into the event at this link: https://www.twitch.tv/ferrisstateinternational
To add a twist to the event, we are presenting the festival on World Music Day and incorporating a “friendly” video contest, with the purpose of highlighting talents of our current and potential students and the international cultures they wish to celebrate.
Video Contest: We are putting a call out for video submissions that celebrate global cultures, including music, dance, and cooking demonstrations. All video submissions that meet the performance criteria (see below) will be hosted on a YouTube playlist on the FSUinternational YouTube channel. Between 20-25 submissions will be selected and featured in the Virtual International Festival of Cultures on June 21, 2021, from 10:00 am-1:00 pm. Eastern (New York) Time. The top 5 submissions will receive prizes. Please see details below.
Who can participate in the contest: Members of our international and domestic Ferris community, including current and prospective Ferris students, their friends and family, and Ferris alumni. Please see details below.
Prizes: The top 5 submissions will receive a prize of up to $500 to be used towards textbooks ordered via Ferris’ Akademos online bookstore system for the 2021-2022 academic year. Please see details below.
International Festival Background: This festival, sponsored by the University’s Office of the President, has been one of the largest events on campus over the years, with well over a thousand attendees joining from campus and its surrounding community. The International Festival of Cultures has historically featured samples of cuisine, cultural displays, and performances of dance and music from more than 20 countries. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the 2020 Festival shifted to a virtual format. With the collaboration of two local Big Rapids arts organization – the Tuba Bach Chamber Music Festival and Artworks – we were able to collect videos of musical performances and cooking demonstrations from around the world. It was a wonderful quarantine-era celebration, with over 600 viewers joining to watch these videos on the Twitch online platform. We hope you can join this year and celebrate our University tradition. Please see contest rules and video submission details below.
Virtual International Festival Video Submission Contest Details
We are seeking submissions that celebrate global cultures in the following 3 categories:
- Musical Performances with a cultural flair (Maximum of 3 minutes)
- Dance Performances with a cultural flair (Maximum of 3 minutes)
- Cooking demonstrations with a cultural flair (Maximum of 4 minutes)
Criteria for the videos:
- The focus of this event is highlighting “cultural flair” from countries throughout the world.
- Successful video submissions will remain within the time limit, and will successfully convey the cultural import they are portraying.
Submission requirements:
- Written Information
- Send the following via email to [email protected]
- Personal information to include:
- Your name
- Your city and country
- Your relationship to Ferris State University
- (student, faculty, parent, alumni, prospective student, etc.)
- In the event of a group submission, a primary group member should be designated as a decision-maker for the submission and the recipient of any awards
- Video Information to include:
- The file name for the video submission that you will be sharing with us
- The performance category: Music, Dance or Culinary
- The length of your video (3-4 minutes maximum)
- A brief description of your video submission
- A statement that you hold the rights/permission for the material submitted
- Video Submissions
- It is preferred that you share/upload the file to [email protected] through Google Drive
- If you are unable to upload the file in our Google Drive account, let us know, and we will coordinate by email to receive the file through a different mechanism
- Deadlines
- All Written Information and Video Submissions must be received by: May 17, 2021
By submitting a video to be included in the Virtual International Festival of Cultures, participants agree to the following:
- The submission is the participant’s original work created for this contest.
- The submission does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of another person or entity. No copyrighted music or material will be used in the submission.
- Participant releases Ferris State University, its employees and accepts responsibility for any claims or liability that may arise from the submission including claims or liabilities that may arise from an intellectual property rights violation.
- Participant grants Ferris State University a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, license to use, copy, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, publish, and make derivative works from the submission. Participant understands the submission will be hosted on a YouTube playlist on the FSUinternational YouTube channel.
- The International Festival of Cultures sponsors has sole authority to determine the contest winners.
- Violation of contest rules will result in disqualification.
If you need more information on this event, contact the Office of International Education (OIE): [email protected] - or [email protected] – or call (231) 591-2450
If you have a disability and need assistance to attend, contact OIE at least 72 hours in advance at 231-591-2450 or e-mail Lisa vonReichbauer at [email protected]. Ferris State University is an equal opportunity institution. For more information on the University’s Policy on non-discrimination, visit www.ferris.edu/non-discrimination.