Muncie's reputation as a racist city and tensions between the Ball State University and Muncie communities sparked this weekend's Unity in DiverCity 2005, a city-wide event designed to celebrate local cultural diversity.
"This came out of the current atmosphere in the city of Muncie," said Kevin Harris, third-year Ph.D. student at Ball State's Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance services and the event's co-coordinator. "There's just kind of a feeling that there's a need for discussion on issues of race in Muncie."
The festival sprang from several weeks of local Study Circle discussions, which were started by recent Ball State graduate Alison Quirk and aimed at easing racial tensions in the city, Harris said. DiverCity also emerged because of the controversy surrounding the renaming of Broadway Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Boulevard, as well as in response to the founding of the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute and Ball State's international cultural diversity.
With the theme "Roots and Heritage," the weekend will include a DiverCity Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Horizon Center. Ball State, Cardinal Health Systems, the City of Muncie, the Youth Opportunity Center and 12 other companies will provide information about available jobs.
At 6:30 p.m., Provost Beverley Pitts will give the keynote address at the DiverCity Evening Gala at the Muncie Community Civic Center. The semi-formal event will allow DiverCity creators and sponsors to celebrate the unity they will initiate this weekend.
For Pitts, whose son is married to an African-American woman, the value of diversity hits close to home, she said. Her speech will focus on knowing the heritage of diversity in Muncie and looking toward the future.
"When most of us think about diversity, we only think African-American or white," Pitts said. "But, in fact, we should think about diversity of religion, sexual preferences, ethnic minorities."
More than 20 countries will be represented at the DiverCity Downtown Festival Saturday. The street fair will take place from noon to 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Walnut Street and Charles Street. If it rains, the fair will be moved to the YWCA, 310 E. Marsh St.
Co-sponsored by Muncie's Downtown Development Office, the festival will feature four local guest panels on diversity issues, as well as booths by various ethnic, community and civic groups. International dance and interactive theater performances will also serve as entertainment.
Junior Kate Moore is one of several Ball State students who will participate in the festival. Moore will sell mostly religious jewelry from the Victorian era, featuring stone beads and metal, she said.
Moore is glad so many people can come together to celebrate history and culture in Muncie's predominately white community, she said.
"It's a step in the direction of less conflict -- learning about other people's cultures -- so when you come in contact with it, you don't fear it and hate it," Moore said.
Harris said he is hoping 2,000 people will visit the festival Saturday, where Muncie Mayor Dan Canan will also make an appearance. More than 100 members of the community, as well as organizers and performers from as far away as Pennsylvania and South Dakota, are involved in making it happen, he said.
"This is one of the broadest grassroots efforts going on," Harris said. "Our basic philosophy is don't go into an area and tell them what to do. ... It's to go into an area and ask them what they want to see changed."
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