INTERVIEW: Brunswick County Intercultural Festival to bring diverse entertainment

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The Brunswick County Intercultural Festival this October will bring the Cape Fear region cross-cultural education, experience and performances.

According to a spokesperson for the event, visitors can enjoy cultural exhibits, ethnic cuisine, and craft vendors, along with performers in authentic traditional costumes who will perform a mix of contemporary and traditional music and dances.

Executive Director Mary Beth Livers of the Brunswick Arts Council and artist Shea-Ra Nichi visited the WECT studio to discuss the event.

Livers says the event has been going on for 18 years and celebrates all the different peoples and backgrounds in the region.

“And culture’s not stagnant, culture’s always changing,” Livers said. “Language, dances, music, arts, they all change in our cultures, we grow. We borrow from each other, we just become.”

Nichi, who is performing at the festival, says the festival is for people of diverse cultures to share common goals rather than think about their differences.

“I’m a choreographer, dancer, so we’ll be doing some dancing and drumming,” Nichi said. “Basically, the drumming and dancing will coincide with songs that we have created to tell the Gullah Geechee story.”

Multicultural artwork from students in Brunswick County schools will be showcased during the festival, and winners for the entries in the Poster Art contest will be announced.

The festival will be hosted at the Leland Cultural Arts Center. It is free and will open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more details, click here.