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Kwesi Jones: Culture X was first created by students in spring of 1999 as a way to promote unity and diversity on the Brandeis campus. Students from all over came together to create this amazing, beautiful event using all of their different talents, skills, and abilities in the arts. They started a strong tradition that continue for more than 20 years and will continue much, much farther into the future. Even though the past two years has been halted by the coronavirus pandemic, the show cannot be promoted in a way that has been without the Culture X chair team, which is the small, talented, and dedicated group of students who gave up their time, energy, talents, and skills every year to put on the greatest, biggest show that they possibly can. I myself was on Culture X team until 2018. Our show was one love between the crossroads, and that was an amazing experience that we always share. At this point, there's been several students who have been able to dedicate their time, energy, and talent to Culture X, and we'll hear from some of those students right now.
Gabbi Rivero: My first year on chair team for Culture X, we celebrated a 20-year rich history of the show. In my second year, we hoped to celebrate and envision a future for it. I think the thing that I love most about Culture X and why it's so special to me is that it's one stage where everybody from anywhere can come together and share what they love most about their culture and what makes them who they are, and we all get to be there together to celebrate that with them. –
Yeng Her: Hi, all. My name is Yeng. I graduated from Brandeis back in 2016 and I was a part of the Culture X ARISE. Co-members were three of my fabulous, co-member Astella, Mala, and Joy. One of the reason why I love Culture X is the educational component it has. Personally, for me, I was able to really expand and learn so much more about the art forms and the different art forms there is. Two of my favorite memories about Culture X is one, filming the promo video that was fun and hysterical. Love it. Also, number 2 is being able to go and see the practice and additions of each group and being able to see the passion and dedication they put into their art history helps me and inspired me to really put in that fire and passion in my own work as well, hence why Culture X is so important to the Brandeis community and culture-based from its history. But most important to me, when I was an undergrad, Brandeis didn't have a diversity, equity, and inclusion department. So the ICC and Culture X embody the DEI work was and is the DEI work. I hope that you all can continue to look forward to the growth and inspiration Culture X can bring and it will bring, and also the impact it has on your predecessor, yourself and the future. Take care and enjoy the rest of your time there. Good luck with everything, stay safe out there. Bye Bye.
Zuri Gordon: Hi. This is Zuri from the class of 2015. I volunteered for Culture X on my years Brandeis and in my senior year, I was on a Culture X chair team. I was your typical overachieving Brandeis student at my senior. I was taking five classes trying to finish my pre-majors, but I still sides to called Culture X into the mix and I could not have been a better decision. I love Culture X because it's the biggest and the best show at Brandeis for a reason and that reason is its connection to the intercultural center of my favorite spots on Brandeis and one of the most important spots in the Brandeis, I think. I love being a part of the chair team you're given so much responsibility and it really taught me so much about how to put on such a big production crop, looking at audition then deciding our setlist and MC, ordering food all these people, running rehearsals, and I'm super proud of the show that we put on and I'm still really proud that I work to this day.
Amy Nguyen: Hello everyone. This is Amy. Culture X is one of the activities I miss the most starts at graduation. This was not obvious to me when I was still in Brandeis, but after graduation, and I started working. They was not a lot of chance so I can get together with people from different backgrounds and come up with a show to celebrate different cultures and most importantly, just to have fun. Culture X to me was really special in that sense. At every single stage of the show, from preparation to the showcase, it was this festive and welcoming atmosphere that you can ever find anywhere else. Although we didn't get to carry out all culture exchanged tiny infusion, sad face. [LAUGHTER] I want to thank all of our volunteers, our performers to ICC, and all Culture X committee. We are still in the process of trying to figure out who we are, what we like. It might be hard at the moment to envision ourselves where we can be in the future. But I hope that we can all be strong and brave so that we can reach our dreams. It's okay to feel lost at times that I hope that you guys know that the world is your oyster.
Sophia Baez: Hello ICC and Culture X, family. My name is Sophia Baez and I was one of the Culture X chairs in 2015. Also, wearing my Culture X t-shirt to represent, I just want to say congratulations on this momentous occasion even with everything going on you'll able to still put on, I'm sure an amazing show. I have so many amazing memories from Culture X. Just meeting with the chairs every week and having all the amazing food and see all the amazing performances. It was just such a beautiful connection all the different people that are at the Brandeis community. I cannot wait to see and be a part of this amazing experience, and I wish you all the best and sending you a lot of love and support virtually much success, everyone. Bye.
Joon Cha: Well, there's nothing to not like about Culture X. It's a fun evening over performances and pizza. Another fun change is seeing classmates put up performances, singing, and dancing. That's awesome thing we often see them doing in lecture hall and at the library. Brandeis is represented by students from all over the globe and the show is a fast and fun way to get to know each other a little better. Unfortunately, what would've been my first Culture X was canceled, but I have great memories working with my fellow chair team members. It was inspiring to see their creativity and vision. While it's fun, I think Culture X sends a positive message to the Brandeis community. This show really helps to celebrate and educate us all on diversity and through Culture X, upholding diversity really becomes more than a mission statement, but rather an action being taken by the Brandeis community to help us get to know each other and bring people closer together.
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Jonah Nguyen: I love Culture X because it is a showcase of the Brandeis community diverse culture and student talents. The amazing performances from students and the energy from the full house audience at Levin Ballroom makes Culture X memorable. Experiencing Culture X was eye-opening. I remember when I was a first-year student, I got to see you around 20 completely different performances such as dancing, singing, and even spoken word. It was amazing to see people coming together and sharing their culture with everyone, students, faculty, and staff, and their children at Brandeis. My favorite memory about Culture X is getting to work with the team that plan and create the show itself. Although our show was not able to be displayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, I had such an amazing time working with them. I vividly remember staying up all night designing the backdrop and t-shirts, staying at the Intercultural Center at night and watching the amazing audition tapes together, and even spending our Thursday nights together with Tara as we plan for Culture X. There was a lot of excitement for Tuesday night, I give you that. Culture X is important to the Brandeis community because it provides an opportunity for everyone to come together and watch amazing performances from our own Brandeis students. It is one of the events at Brandeis where you can step back from your daily work in life and just admire the talent displayed on the stage of Levin Ballroom.
Brianna Brown: Culture X is so ingrained into the fabric of the Brandeis community and so necessary, especially with the times that we live in now that we have a space to just be who we are. Identity is so important. Again, having a place to showcase our identity and be proud and show pride in who we are is so necessary. I'm so grateful to the ICC for cultivating that space and providing such support to all of the clubs that go through the ICC. My favorite Culture X memory would have to be 2019 with the grand finale performance to End of Time by Beyoncé. That was an incredible experience. We brought together all the dance crews in the show and just performed one big dance number. We had flags, people were able to represent where they came from. That, for me, was the biggest point of connection in community that I had ever felt at Brandeis, and I of course could not have done it alone. My co-choreographer and co-coordinator, Imani Islam, we worked on that together. One of my proudest moments.
Imani Islam: Culture X is definitely my favorite time to be on campus. It's just one of those events that everybody gets excited for, especially leading up to audition process and just everybody forming their groups, everybody is in the studio, just using the space to get ready. It's just so amazing to see and even just helping plan Culture X 2019 was so much fun. Just [LAUGHTER] picking the theme, the design, everything in between, it was just a lot of fun and just amazing to deal with the people I helped plan Culture X 2019 with. Even doing the grand finale with Brianna, it was just amazing, also scary of just choreographing for a whole big group, but it paid off so much and it was just an amazing performance. My favorite memory was definitely the second to last night of the rehearsal. We did the full run through and we did the full whole thing of the grand finale. We heard the stamp so crisp and clean with anybody and it was just like, "Whoa, we did that." But overall, Culture X is just one of the best events on campus, 10 out of 10 Culture X period.
[VIDEO OF CLIP OF CULTURE X “ROOTS TO LEAVES” PLAYS]
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[APPLAUSE] - Thank you for attending the 20th anniversary of Culture X. Special thanks to the Intercultural Center, Gender and Sexuality Center, Student Production Services, MTS, copious amounts of volunteers, performers, facilities, Amanda Huang, and the ICC again. Thank you for spending the night with us. [APPLAUSE]