Ready. Steady. Immerse.
Both the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific and the ANU School of Culture, History & Language (CHL) represent a unique kind of diversity and multicultural knowledge system. This has traditionally been showcased in smaller flagship events and initiatives. In 2019, CHL launched its signature, flagship program, designed to bring together the wide range of disciplinary and area expertise at the School. The aim of this program was to bring together members of the School who hone a wide range of disciplinary and area expertise. The overarching vision was to tackle some of the key issues we see as critical in our strategic plan:
- Leading the way for engagement with Asia and the Pacific
- Transforming our understanding of the lifeways of people and populations in our region
- Future proofing the nation by serving as a partner and essential resource for all who focus on Asia and the Pacific
Since inception, four projects have gone onto receive funding from the School annually, and they have now become an integral part of our annual academic year. They showcase the innovative and approaches we are exploring, be it in the field of language learning, transdisciplinary research, decolonising the academy or the challenges of the Anthropocene, to name a few.
In 2022, our extended vision on the CHL Flagship Program, which showcases our research excellence, was to broaden its reach via a creative, interactive platform. How could we showcase our subject knowledge and research expertise on a wider platform? How could we better represent our approach to diversity of language, cuisine, art and craft? What was the best way to communicate to a wider audience our commitment to social inclusion, student wellbeing and community engagement?
The quest for answers to such questions led to the genesis of a culturally immersive experience for one and all—a multicultural perspectives festival that would bring all our amazing diverse cultural approaches together in a cohesive, vibrant and collective cultural experience. And with this seedling of an idea began a journey of relearning and discovering creative approaches to showcasing academic excellence and regional expertise.
A Cultural Potpourri
After much deliberation, brainstorming and creative ideation, 2022 was ready to relaunch its flagship program in a new avatar altogether: a multicultural festival with a difference; a culturally immersive experience for everyone, not just at ANU but also across the wider community in the ACT region. And thus was born 2022 Immersia: Engaging the Pacific and Asia, an interactive celebration of diversity, inclusion, tradition and heritage of the Asia-Pacific region, held during 1–3 December 2022.
A celebration of this nature was particularly fitting at the end of 2022, a year of many milestones—including 50 years of Hindi teaching at ANU and 50 years of diplomacy between Mongolia and Australia. The event was free, fun and festive. From music, dance, art and craft to documentary screenings, photography exhibitions and book launches, there was something to suit everyone.
One of the most popular features was a perfume-making workshop hosted by CHL PhD student Giti Datt, exploring the art, culture and history of attar (perfume) in North India and the connotations of fragrance. Participants were treated to a sensory experience that was not only informative historically but also creative and fun, giving everyone a chance to feel like alchemists for a couple of hours. Adding to this celebration of Indian culture was some creative and beautiful henna artistry for both adults and children, an Indian artist’s installation works and Indian classical music.
Another fabulous showcase was the Language Tasters session, for those toying with the idea of learning a language. Participants were able to sample some of our amazing languages through cultural demos and key expressions in various Asian and Pacific languages; later, people got to come along and watch a traditional dress showcase, where they were able to learn about the cultural, historical and social nuances of traditional attire from around the Asia-Pacific region.
The now-famous Mongolian ger installed on campus was a big draw—we had several visitors to the traditional ger; the journey through Mongolian landscapes and the native way of life continued through a tour by anthropologist Dr Natasha Fijn of the Mongolia Room at Coombs Building, which housed a gallery of Dr Fijn’s photographs and documentary screening.
And to round it off, the star on the final day of the festival was an ethereal stargazing event at the Fellows Oval.
Testing the Waters
The debut edition of Immersia was an experiment that started out as a CHL flagship offering, but it eventually garnered the much-appreciated sponsorship of the Vice-Chancellor. The VC funding shifted gears on this venture, prompting the engagement of an external event-management company to ramp up the scale of the festival. An event of this scale would require extensive support and teamwork in a short span of time. As such, CHL had the opportunity to take its flagship program to a collaborative level not achieved previously, and this in itself was a fantastic learning experience for future endeavours.
For the pilot year, our focus was on providing a real-time experience of all the cultural and research diversity we represent; on collectively engaging our research and student community; and on strengthening collaboration and knowledge sharing across the university and beyond.
The mission at hand was to launch the concept and make it visible to the audience, to plant a seed that will hopefully grow in future years as an annual offering that represents the diverse, inclusive and vibrant spirit of CHL, CAP and ANU.
