2011-12 SCHEDULE

• Native American Cultural Days
  November
• Black Family Week
  Sunday-Friday, Feb. 12-17
• Powwow
  Saturday, April 7
• Danzantes del Alma Annual Show
  Saturday, April 14
• Asian Pacific Culture Night
  Friday, April 20 (This event is one week earlier than previously announced.)
• Asian Pacific Culture Week
  Monday-Friday, April 23-27 (APCW had been scheduled originally for these dates, then the organizers announced a switch to April 16-20, and now they are back to April 23-27; only Asian Pacific Culture Night has been moved up a week.)
• La Raza Cultural Week
  Monday-Friday, April 30-May 4
• La Gran Tardeada
  Saturday, May 5
• Mixed Heritage Week
  Monday-Friday, May 7-11
• Black Family Day
  Saturday, May 19

If you thought Native American Culture Days came early this academic year, you’re right. Black Family Week is coming early, too — next week, in fact.

These celebrations and others previously took place in April and May each year. The Cross Cultural Center, which sponsors the celebrations, adjusted the 2011-12 calendar, in part, because "having 10 significant weeklong events in one quarter was not a very sustainable practice for a department as small as ours,” said Andrea Gaytan, the center’s assistant director.

She said the center’s staff can more effectively support the students who run the celebrations — if they are spread throughout the year.

In addition, holding Native American Culture Days in November fit in with November’s status as Native American Cultural Month.

Similarly, Black Family Week is taking place in Black History Month. This year’s celebration, with the theme Resilience: Supporting One Another to Exceed Expectations, is scheduled from Sunday through Friday, Feb. 12 to 17. (Black Family Day will continue to be held in May.)

With Native American Cultural Days as the only cultural celebration in November and Black Family Week as the only one in February, the organizers and their collaborators can spread out their events, “instead of cramming everything into one week,” Gaytan said.

For example, a Black History Month Book Display is running through Feb. 29 at the Women’s Resources and Research Center, and Black History Month Trivia is scheduled every Thursday night in February.

Other activities outside of Black Family Week include films and book events, discussions and presentations. (One of those films, Domino: Interracial People and the Search for Identity, is being presented tonight; see details below.)

Gaytan also pointed out that, with the opening of the new Student Community Center, home of the Cross Cultural Center, students have access to more space for cultural programs — as evidenced by the schedules below.

Black Family Week
Resilience: Supporting One Another to Exceed Expectations

• Gospel Extravaganza — A dinner event, with African and African American art and performances. 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom.

• Black Cultural Show — A showcase displaying various experiences of the African Disapora community. 7-9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, multipurpose room (second floor) Student Community Center.

• Black Graduate Students Poster Research Presentation — Noon-2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.

• “HERstory” of Feminism and Race — Workshop: the racialized “HERstory” of feminism. 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.

• Soul Speaks — Sounds and poetry that stir the soul. 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, multipurpose room (second floor) Student Community Center.

• Interracial Relationships — Workshop and panel: cross-cultural dialogue and discussion. 5-7 p.m., Meeting Room E (second floor), Student Community Center.

• Civil Rights: Bridging the Gap — Hear  from an original member of the Black Panther Party and learn about his experiences in the civil rights movement. 6-8 p.m., DeCarli Room (second floor), Memorial Union.

Black History Month

• Black History Month Book Display — Through Feb. 29, Joy Fergoda Library, Women’s Resources and Research Center, South Hall.

• Black History Month Trivia — 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9, 16 and 23, Silo (upstairs).

• Domino: Interracial People and the Search for Identity — Film screening and community discussion, exploring such issues as the  cultural isolation and the search for community. 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, 1130 Hart Hall.

• ACE Housing Day — Sponsored by the African Diaspora Cultivating Education (ACE). Wednesday, Feb. 15, starting at 10 a.m., Silo.

• Legacy — A documentary film about a family's finding the strength and courage to transform their lives. 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.

• Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina — Book reading with the author, Brenda Dixon Gottschild, professor emerita of dance studies, Temple University; and Halifu Osumare, associate professor, African and African American studies, UC Davis. 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, 3201 Hart Hall.

• Being Black Abroad — 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.

• Beauty and Professionalism: Empowering Women of Color — 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2 Wellman Hall.

• Imperial Japanese Antiracism and Philo-Semitism — Presention by Ben Karp, doctoral candidate in the departments of African American studies and history, Yale University. 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.

• My Culture Is Not a Comedy: A Picture Campaign — 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, Griffin Lounge, MU.

• Walk-Thru — Annual history exhibition by the residents of Student Housing's African American- and African-themed residence hall floor. 7-9 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, Feb. 28-29, second floor, Campbell Hall, Tercero.

• Black Fathers and Family Symposium — Panel discussion and book signing with four of the contributors to the book Black Fathers: An Invisible Presence in America. The participants: editors Michael E. Connor and Joseph L. White; author Bedford Palmer, coordinator of services to students of African descent, Student Health and Counseling Services, UC Davis; and author Valata Jenkins-Monroe, Alliant International University. 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29, Meeting Room D (second floor), Student Community Center.