The Large Event Funding Panel has allocated a total of $25,235 to fund six events for this spring, including a Latin American and Caribbean cultural show and a talk by Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Three of the events are being funded in full. One of them is the $7,500 show headed by Club Latino and the Caribbean Club slated for late April, which will explore and share the cultures of MIT students from Latin America and the Caribbean. It will feature a dinner composed of cultural cuisine, performances from student groups, and "Dominicanish," a performance by New York-based artist Josefina Baez.
Also funded in full ($5,400) is the mid-April talk by Mr. Adams on "Parrots, the Universe and Everything," hosted by the Lecture Series Committee. The last time he spoke at MIT was in October 1983, to an audience of more than 1,000 in Kresge Auditorium; this time, he will speak at the Johnson Athletic Center.
The third fully funded proposal is Comedy Collage ($6,835), an evening of comedy and music being presented by Chocolate City in conjunction with the Black Students' Union, Imobilare and others. Organizers have already confirmed comedians Brooklyn Mike, Keith Robinson and Victor Cruz for the February event.
Receiving partial funding are this year's South Asian cultural show, entitled "Pragathi: The Coming of Age," hosted by South Asian American Students, the Pakistani Students Society at MIT and Sangam. It is planned for late April.
The Chinese Student Club, Thai Students at MIT, Association of Taiwanese Students and the Singapore Student Society have been allocated partial funding for another cultural show, "Grains of Rice 2000." The early April event focusing on Asian heritage will feature ethnic dishes and cultural performances.
The 25th Annual Ebony Affair, coordinated by the Black Graduate Student Association, will be held in Walker in late February. The semiformal event is "a creative expression of African-American culture through singing and theatrical performances."
The panel received requests for $68,677 in funding for 14 events with total projected budgets of $122,251. Requests for the fall 1999 term totaled $120,988 for 14 funding requests; allocations for four large events were granted. Priority is given to proposals with requested budgets between $3,000 and $10,000, and to those which are sponsored by more than one student organization or have a non-student group as one of the organizers.
Requests for the fall 2000 term will be accepted in late April.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 2, 2000.
