September 13 — Chinese Cultural Festival
The first Chinese festival in Indianapolis will celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival with Chinese food, traditional music and dancing, a fashion show, and more.
When: Saturday September 13, 11:00 AM — 9:00 PM
Where: Military Park 601 W. New York St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
Says the announcement from the mayor’s office:
For the first time, Indianapolis will host a festival to celebrate and honor the Chinese people in our city. This festival is long overdue. Chinese people in Indianapolis have been active participants and contributors to our city’s culture, yet they have never had an ethnic festival to call their own. We encourage you along with people from all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds to participate and enjoy the festivities. The inaugural Indianapolis Chinese Festival will lead to mutually beneficial exchanges of culture and economy. The 2008 Indianapolis Chinese Festival will take place at Military Park on September 13, 2008, from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It is a celebration of family, harvest, and prosperity, which corresponds with the traditional Chinese Moon Festival. In keeping with Chinese custom, the Chinese festival will close in the evening with a lantern ceremony on Central Canal.
Why does Provocate think you should attend this event?
Harmless family fun is good enough reason. It may not actually be the first Chinese cultural festival in the city this year, much less ever. But it will probably be biggest, and the Mayor is throwing his clout behind it being a success. Of course, it is not as important as the conversations we need to have about China’s relations with Indiana, and the opportunities of Hoosiers of the growing population of immigrants from China and elsewhere, and the challenges of schooling for these newcomers’ children … all of the issues that Provocate calls “glocalization.” But it will be a good space to start some of these conversations.
If you think this sounds interesting, be sure to check out …
You can find a ton of China-related events on Provocate. Hear the Chinese-American novelist Lan Samantha Change on October 30. “Court Arts of the Ming Dynasty” opens October 26 … the IMA will have several performances of traditional Chinese culture reinterpreted for contemporary audiences, including composer Tan Dun’s music November 21 and the film (using Tan Dun’s score) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” November 22. See a performance by the Peking Opera of Beijing at the International Festival November 20-23. More opportunities in 2009 (too early for Provocate!): At Clowes Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in performance with the Shaolin Monks of China on February 6 — “With utter calm and fierce precision, the dancers of LINES Ballet and the Shaolin Monks of China collaborate to present “Long River, High Sky,” an unprecedented synthesis of Eastern and Western classical forms. This collaboration represents both a blending of distinct cultural traditions—ballet and martial arts—and recognition that these arts of movement are convergent and intertwined.” And at Madame Walker February 20 Peking Acrobats.
