App State Diversity Celebration

App State's 20th annual Diversity Celebration will be held April 8–9 with a mix of virtual and in-person events. The Diversity Celebration features a wide array of music, eclectic dancing, delectable food, international films, and festivals.


 Appalachian students, faculty, staff, K-12 schools, and members of the local community are all invited to join in this celebration of cultures through art and entertainment. This celebration provides a venue where diverse perspectives, cultures, and values are accepted, appreciated, and celebrated. 

​The event also supports and enhances the university’s commitment to be actively involved in addressing the educational, economic, cultural and societal needs of the changing region, state, nation and world.

This program is funded in part by the Watauga County Arts Council and Grassroots Funds of the North Carolina Arts Council.

SCHEDULE


Thursday, April 8
6–7:15 p.m. Performance by Paul Tran, the award-winning slam poet, and author. This is a virtual event, and registration is required.
Register


Friday, April 9
9–11 a.m. Various virtual sessions.
11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Diversity Celebration Festival on Sanford Mall, featuring DJ Trellz, special diverse menus at the food trucks, museum displays, dance lessons, and more.
2–2:50 p.m. Virtual session.
3–4:30 p.m. Creative writing/poetry workshop with Paul Tran, award-winning slam poet and author: Toward Freedom: Reimagining the myth we tell about ourselves

Participants in this generative writing workshop will read “Autobiography of Eve” by the poet Ansel Elkins. “I did not fall from grace,” Eve says. “I charged toward freedom.” We will write and share our own “Autobiography of...” poems, and in doing so, will talk about the myths constructed about us and how, from the classroom to the workplace, we reinforce or subvert these myths.

 7:30 p.m. Drive-in movie night at State Farm Parking Lot, featuring “Zootopia.” Gates open at 7:30 p.m.
 

Zootopia

Paul Tran