Every year around the beginning of June, the entire Leiden international student community comes together to unite the world in a single event. Participants from all corners of the globe bring food, dance, music, games, and much more to represent the traditions and history of their home countries. Each country team has a display stand for food, small games, and information. A stage is set up for performances of song, dance, skits, and any other kind of creative entertainment. A separate room is used for workshops, where country teams can show how to write their alphabet, give language lessons, instruct a traditional dance, or any fun activity you would like to teach to the community. As a country team, your imagination is your limit.

The ISN Cultural Festival is a unique opportunity to showcase the international diversity of Leiden and share the parts of your childhood, heritage, and home life that are closest to your heart. We would be very excited to have you participate and help us to inspire the city of Leiden through cultural awareness and to gain further appreciation for all traditions of the world. Let’s work together to break down barriers and connect people from different continents, ethnicities, and backgrounds through something that we all have in common: a love for culture and the world around us.

Check out our 2013 video here!

Follow the ISN Cultural Festival Facebook page for more information!

OPEN CALL: Cultural Festival Committee Members

ISN Leiden is currently looking for new Cultural Festival committee members! Being a CF committee member means that you will be responsible for organising the Cultural Festival, which will be taking place by the end of May/beginning of June. This year is going to be even bigger, better and more exciting! So send your CV and motivation letter quickly to !

Deadline: Sunday December 13

Positions:

President

  • In charge of the whole event
  • Arranges internal communication in the team; sets up meetings and keeps track of the activity of all team members
  • Works with all team members; particularly responsible for finances and PR
  • Adapts the festival according to opportunities and constraints

Required skills:

  • Well-organised
  • Sociable and open to multiculturalism
  • Able to prioritise and cope with short deadlines when needed

Desired skills:

  • Knowledge of public institutions, such as embassies, town hall, etc.
  • Experience working in a team
  • Able to work with Google Docs & MS Office
  • Familiar with the international student community & expat community of Leiden and surroundings
  • Innovative

Acquisition Manager / Treasurer

  • Keeps track of expenditure and the budget of the Cultural Festival
  • Is in charge of procurement, e.g. finding vendors who provide cheap options, contacting, and arranging things.
  • Creates sponsorship packages for the event

Required skills:

  • Organised, responsible and honest
  • Analytical
  • Knowledge of MS Excel or similar

Desired skills:

  • Has an idea about maintaining a budget, and keeping track of expenditure (by chapter)
  • Has knowledge of where to get things from in and around Leiden, especially at cheaper places

Sponsorship Manager

  • In charge of seeking sponsorships for the event, through local and national companies, organisations, funds and public institutions
  • Develops sponsorship packages for the event
  • Meets potential sponsors
  • Comes up with fundraising activities

Required skills:

  • Can sell an idea to potential sponsors
  • Able to create and edit sponsorship packages and promotional material aimed at sponsors
  • Has basic knowledge of local businesses from Leiden and a vague idea of how and where to get sponsorships from

Desired skills:

  • Has experience in getting sponsorships
  • Has good knowledge of funding opportunities in the Netherlands
  • Serious and responsible
  • Has a feel for people
  • Knows how to make presentations and is good with MS Word and MS Powerpoint (or similar)

Participants & Recruitment Coordinator

  • Is in charge of recruiting participants for the event
  • Organises country teams and maintains prompt contact with them (by e-mail and phone)
  • Assesses the need of voluntary assistance and recruits volunteers for the festival
  • Creates a performance programme and figures out opportunities on how to improve the event by adapting it, given the participants

Required skills

  • Very sociable and a very wide opening to cultural diversity
  • Very organised
  • Can maintain communication with many people at the same time, and keep track of their activity
  • Able to figure out strong and weak points of situations, such as to capitalise on opportunities

Desired skills

  • Some knowledge of MS Excel and organisation
  • Patient, calm and focused
  • Some experience in volunteering and/or attracting volunteers
  • Able to motivate and inspire people

PR Manager

  • Manages public relations of the festival
  • Creates promotional materials, e.g. flyers, posters, videos, etc.
  • Manages the social network accounts of the Cultural Festival
  • Creates and improves formal promotional material, such as concept presentations of the Cultural Festival, press releases, etc
  • Establishes relations with local and national press for promotion and coverage of the event
  • Ensures photography and filming of the event through volunteers or services

Requiered skills:

  • Experience in graphics / computer design
  • Creativity
  • Organised

Desired skills:

  • Experience with Adobe Photoshop/InDesign
  • Previous experience in designing posters, flyers, etc.
  • Experience with the press
  • Experience with social networks

Activities & Logistics manager

  • Develops and improves the programme of the festival
  • Keeps track of event logistics, needs and availability of solutions for those needs
  • Comes up with activities for the event
  • Balances practical advantages and good content for the event

Required skills

  • Ability to think about needs for activities from a practical point of view.
  • Can figure out [feasible] activities and their logistics for the event
  • Familiar with way of organising multiple people doing different things at the same time, e.g. through a timesheet in Excel

Desired skills

  • Able to communicate well, ensuring that every task is covered by someone
  • Innovative in ways to improve an event and how to implement them
  • Able to find quick solutions to new problems