CLU to celebrate Latin American cultures
Ventura County By Frank Moraga, moraga@insidevc.com April 4, 2003
Students, faculty and the community will encounter a variety of Latin American cultures when the annual Festival de Encuentros commences Monday at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
The eighth annual event celebrates the cultures through traditional foods, music, dancing and entertainment, said Liz Ramos, vice president of the university's Latin American Student Organization, which is hosting the festival in cooperation with the institution's Multicultural Programs Office.
Flags of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will be flown from CLU's flagpole and in the university's library through April 11.
"Every different country has a different culture and beliefs," Ramos said. "All week we will have facts about different Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Cuba, posted on bulletin boards so we can reach out with factual stuff as opposed to the stereotypical ideas we have about those countries."
The program begins Monday, when all campus employees are invited to a sack lunch and performance by a Los Angeles-based mariachi group at noon at the Pavilion in the center of the campus.
That evening, members of the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center in Oxnard will present a Baile Folklorico performance from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Pavilion.
The program continues at noon Tuesday, when students are invited to have lunch with the university's Latino faculty, staff and administration at the Pavilion, followed by a "movie night" presentation from 7 to 8 p.m. in Nygreen 1. Plans are being finalized for the showing, which could include the HBO Films release of "Real Women Have Curves," Ramos said.
A special Latino chapel service in Spanish and English will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Samuelson Chapel near Olsen Road followed by a "pulga" (flea) craft fair from noon to 2 p.m. at the Student Union Building. Events that day will conclude with storytelling and poetry reading from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Centrum next to the university's cafeteria.
Salsa dancing and lessons will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Pavilion.
"The salsa lessons are our biggest turnout, and we often get 60 to 100 dancers," said LASO faculty adviser Damien Pena, who has been involved with Festival de Encuentros since 1999.
Activities will continue Thursday with a performance by "rock 'n' Espanol" bands Aerosol and Jamboch from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Pavilion.
Festival de Encuentros will conclude Friday with a presentation at the Pavilion on the facts and myths surrounding sex by community educator Xochitl Gomez, Ramos said.
All the events at the campus, at 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks, are free and open to the public. Past Festival de Encuentros have drawn community visitors from throughout Ventura County, Pena said.