Árbol de la Vida Residence Hall and the Residence Hall Association are hosting the third annual cultural celebration called Carnividá this Saturday.
The event began in 2012 because the hall council at the time wanted to give students an event that would continue annually through Árbol de la Vida and be campus-wide, said Michelle Martin, a resident assistant at Árbol de la Vida. The theme is a result of the idea emerging around the time of Mardi Gras, she added.
“Our big plan going into Carnividá was to make as many people feel like there’s something that they can do,” Martin said. “We have a bunch of different activities and performances, so that once residents and guests come, they have this feeling of [being in] a really comfortable place and a place to have fun; something different to do over the weekend.”
In addition to Mardi Gras’ Creole food, there will be fortune tellers, henna tattoo artists, jugglers and mask making, as well as a series of performers from around campus, said Lysette Davis, a community director at Árbol de la Vida.
“This is a chance for a lot of on-campus groups to show off their skills,” Davis said.
The festival will have its own “Pitch Perfect”-style performance that will include a capella groups Amplified, Noteriety and CatCall, Davis said.
There will also be performances by the Black N’ Blue Hip Hop Crew, The Magic Club and The Charles Darwin Experience, as well as a jazz performance by an ensemble of graduate students from the School of Music, Martin said.
The planning and execution is carried out completely by the Hall Council of the Árbol de la Vida. It is expecting about 700 students to attend, said David Ward, the senior community director of Árbol de la Vida.
Davis said this festival is meant to be a cultural celebration, but this year, it is focused on sustainability as well.
“While this theme will be seen at the event, it is more of a mild undertone to the rest of the activities,” Davis said.
There will be a room dedicated to sustainability that shows how resources that are wasted on a daily basis affect the rest of the community, Davis said.
Davis added that everything for the event was ordered locally and that shirts worn by the resident assistants and the staff working this event are all eco-friendly.
Ward said that the event is supposed to focus less on the theme and more on strengthening the student community.
“While this is a celebration with cultural elements, it’s really about creating a space where our students feel like they are connected to this community,” Ward said. “[It is] a celebration that their fellow students are putting on for them.”
