Penn Museum hosted its 45th annual CultureFest! Lunar New Year celebration on Saturday to commemorate the beginning of the Year of the Horse.
The Jan. 31 event — which was co-sponsored by the American Center for Asian Students and the East Asian Center at Penn — featured various artistic performances, along with a vendor marketplace held across two levels of the museum. The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with event coordinators and participants about how the full-day activities aimed to share Asian cultures with the community.
Associate Director of Special Events at Penn Museum Tena Thomason described the institution as “a place for anyone anywhere to learn about people from all around the world” as a “steward of cultural heritage.”
Thomason added that the Penn Museum has partnered with ACAS to host CultureFest! for the past two years, distributing event-planning responsibilities between the bodies.
ACAS takes charge of choosing performers for the event and “working with the community to share their cultural traditions,” according to Thomason.
Penn Museum managed the event's dance and cultural performances in Harrison Auditorium — which featured Penn Chinese Dance Club, Karat KPop dance cover team, and Chinese schools from across Philadelphia.
The vendor marketplace showcasing Asian food and crafts took place in the Penn Museum’s Asian gallery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Chrissy Snow — who manages the Panda Express account of Alliance Marketing Partners — emphasized how many children attended the event.
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“It’s so youth-driven,” Snow said. “It’s great for them to learn not only about their culture, but children from other cultures as well.”
A panel discussion in Widener Lecture Hall featured students of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean backgrounds who spoke about their diverse perspectives on shared traditions.
The day’s activities closed with a lion dance from Lee’s Lion Club, which has been involved with CultureFest! for over 30 years, according to owner Gary Lee.
“A main thing around lion dancing for Lunar New Year is that you have lions going around to different organizations, buildings — in particular businesses,” Lee told the DP. “The traditions … bring forth lots of good vibes, good fortune, and good blessings to all the people involved.”
The dance was performed in a traditional Fut San-style, which is accompanied by “symbolic” firecrackers and includes a lion to “scare away the old spirits.”
“I think it’s very important,” Lee said. “I’m always happy to perform the traditional lion dance, let the kids know what it’s all about, how it started, and what it represents for the Asian community.”
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Staff reporter Candice Felderer covers admissions and can be reached at felderer@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies philosophy, politics, and economics.
