Communication students feast their eyes on a world of cultures
A group of five students from the Bachelor of Communication degree, who were selected for a travel internship/scholarship opportunity to work at the Festival Les Cultures du Monde in France, have returned home after documenting the amazing festivities with people from all over the world.
Recently the group, consisting of students- Jacob Stuart, Grant Gibbins, Luke Ryan, Patrick Wood and Shelby Houghton, made their way to a small country village in the middle of France called Gannat. They worked with media coverage at an event called ‘Festival Les Cultures du Monde’ (the Festival of World Cultures).
The festival is a celebration of folk culture, and this year, it included 20 different folk groups from all over the world, some of which were from- Benin in Africa, Peru and Chile, Rajhistan in India, and the Yakoutie people of Russia. This year marked its 40th festival in Gannat and attracted about 65,000 people over the 10 day festival.
The Communication students travelled with Media Production lecturer, Dr Vikrant Kishore, who has had an association with the festival for over twenty years. They were given the opportunity to work in an international context at Gannat, filming a documentary about the happenings at the festival. They were privileged to work in association with the festival’s media team, Gannatworld.tv, to cover the event.
The group hopes to have a screening of the finished short documentary in the coming months at the Uni, along with a photo exhibition of some of the shots from the trip.
Journalism graduate and law student, Shelby Houghton, says the experience was like nothing else-
“As students, we were given the opportunity to work overseas in an environment that exposed us to so many different cultures. I had the chance to really practice my interviewing skills throughout the festival- I spoke to people on camera from all around the world, many of whom only speak English as a second language. As we were capturing a live event on film, we learnt how to think on our feet. It was these kinds of real-world experiences that really put into practice what we have learnt throughout the degree.”
Luke Ryan, a final year Bachelor of Communication student majoring in Media Production, says he had an excellent time-
"I knew that it would be interesting but I think what surprised me so much was how blown away I was at a lot of the talent in the performances. From the Indian acrobats to the Peruvian break-dancers, every act was as well rehearsed and impressively executed as it was symbolic and culturally relevant. My favourite part of the internship was the opportunities to not only befriend people from a variety of different cultures but also to have a very unique experience of France with the added bonus of work experience.”
Dr Vikrant Kishore has also established a blog which provides more information about the festival.
