Empowering Mentor

Co-charing for FIUTS CulturalFest 2017

Leading the creation of an inclusive and diverse cultural celebration

2016-2017

Seattle, US

In 2016-2017 academic year, I served as a student board member of the non-profit-organization FIUTS(Foundation ff International Understanding Through Students). One of my biggest responsibility is working as the co-chair of the CulturalFest Performance Showcase 2017, an annual tradition of FIUTS celebrating the diverse talent and cultural practices of our UW and Great Seattle community. With my co-chair Saki Uwagawa and my mentor Amy Bergstorm, I aimed that creating the most diverse and empowering showcase ever in the history of FIUTS CulturalFest Performances, through direct reach out to lesser represented groups of people. It was a big goal, but with 10 final performances featuring 9 different cultures, of which 3 are represented in the performance for the first time, I can proudly say that we have reach our goal. Additional to the diverse groups of performers we have managed to include, more than 900 audiences attended the showcase, and the performance was featured in the front page of UW daily. Many audiences left saying that it was a truly inclusive cultural spectacle, and they appreciated such event that featured different cultures amid the increasingly exclusive political climate. With two months of hard work in the background, I am very proud of the final result that my committee have managed to reach and strong bonding that we have built within the committee members and with the performers.

Picture: Members of 2017 FIUTS CulturalFest Performance Showcase Committee

Task Accomplished

Co-chaired for the CulturalFest Performance Showcase committee.
Created a vision, goals and plan for the Performance Showcase in collaboration with the co-chair and committee members.
Conducted weekly meeting through 2 quarters in the preparation of the performance showcase.
Recruited more than 30 performance groups to audition, selected 10 final performance groups for the showcase.
Brainstormed and conducted marketing in the promotion of CulturalFest.
Mentored committee members in communicating efficiently with the performers and building strong relationships.
Stage managed the performance showcase on the day of.

Husky Leadership Competencies

Plan

In the beginning of fall 2016, I had several meetings with my mentor Amy and my co-chair Saki. In those meeting we created a calendar for the next 6 month to come and we marked down the important dates as our landmark to the CulturalFest Performance Showcase. I learnt about the importance of having not only a plan for things to happen, but how to set deadlines, in order to keep myself accountable.

Vision

One of the exercise that I led in the meetings became my favorite was the exercise of visioning. I asked people to close their eyes, and imagine that they are sitting in the Meany hall as an audience on Feb 25th, 2017 and watching the performance showcase. Several minutes later they will be walking out of the performance hall. What kind of emotion, impression and memory do they want to carry out of the performance? This exercise of vision themselves as an audience allowed my committee members to see the performance from the other perspective, and by doing so they become very clear on what is their mission ahead and very motivated to do the work that will make the magic happen.

Decision making

Being the co-chair of the CulturalFest performance committee, I have made lots of decisions that shaped the final outcome of our committee and the final performance. From choosing committee members, selecting performers, to assigning liaisons, every single move required me to make decisions that are appropriate to the context. I have learnt to make good decisions by keeping an eye on the bigger vision and paying close attention to the core values of the event.

Diversity

In the process of selecting performers, one of the biggest criteria my committee held was to create an as diverse representation of different cultures as possible. We truly believe in the power of diversity and how, by allowing more different voices to be heard and seen, we can contribute to creating a more vibrant, connected, and culturally aware community. With these ideas in mind, we made tough, but in the hindsight correct decisions to include as many different cultures as possible.

Inclusion

As the co-chair of the CulturalFest performance committee, I aimed to create a inclusive and safe environment for my team to grow and develop as leaders. Not only that I designed ice-breakers and team building events where everyone get to say something, but I also intentionally created spaces in our discussion for the committee members to report on their work and ask any questions they may have. At the end of our serving term, many of my committee members reported that they have took great ownership of their role and felt safe and belonged to our committee. I am very proud of the community we still have today.

Mentoring

As a co-chair for the CulturalFest Performance Showcase committee, I recruited and trained 8 emerging leaders as our committee members. Through weekly meetings, constant communication and private check-ins, I have provided many insight storied and feedback on how to become a better conversationist, leader and life-long learner. All of my committee members succeeded in completing their tasks and creating strong connections with their delegated performers. I am especially proud of those who experienced initial difficulty communicating with their performers. With the extra little encourage I provided, they never gave up. It was their growth and contribution that finally made the performance happen in the way successful way it did.