Cultural Diversity Day

On Saturday 20th May St Thomas’ Square in Newport played host to the Island’s very own Cultural Diversity Day.

The celebration of Cultural Diversity was staged to raise awareness of the diverse cultural heritage of our local community. Onlookers in the town centre were treated to a wide variety of local talent throughout the course of the day with demonstrations from Irish dancers, Morris dancers, Salsa dancers and belly dancers as well as music from The Tin Lids, African drummers, Raw Samba and a Scottish Piper to name just a few.

Visitors to the event were also encouraged to take part in the numerous activities on offer, which ranged from partaking in Trinidadian story telling to sampling exotic and traditional foods from around the world.

The Cultural Diversity Day was co-ordinated by the Isle of Wight Council, the police, the Island BME group and Equals, an Island-based voluntary group who aspire to join together with other organisations and collective groups of people to celebrate and embrace diversity on the Isle of Wight.

The event also incorporated the creation and display of a public art project, funded by Equals with equipment provided by Ryde Development Trust; which saw digital photographs taken of all participants on the day. These were subsequently used to build up a map of the Island to help reflect the diversity of the Island’s communities.

Emma More from Equals told iwight.com that the Cultural Diversity Day was a superb way of marking the end of their first year together as a group as well as being a vibrant start to the UK’s largest national learning campaign; Adult Learners’ Week.

Adult Learners’ Week promotes education and training for adults in addition to providing information and guidance in motivating more adults to participate in a wide variety of learning opportunities. It is a collaborative venture between education and training providers, broadcasters, national and local government.

To gain more information about Adult Learners’ Week and for a detailed listing of the events and activities taking place, please visit our Adult Learners’ Week page.

Please also see our gallery for a selection of images captured during the Cultural Diversity Day.

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