Golden Jubilee of BCS 
April 16 In-Person Event (Berkman Hall Auditorium, Cleveland State University)
অর্ধশতের পূর্ণ কলস স্মৃতিসুধায় ভরা —
দূর প্রবাসে কৃষ্টিরসে এমনি বহে ধারা
Since its inception in 1972 BCS has relentlessly contributed in the propagation and expansion of Bengali culture in the upper Midwest part of US. Bengali, the sixth most spoken language in the world, is inherently rich and constitutes all the attributes of literary and cultural components.
On the occasion of this Golden Jubilee, we are planning a grand celebration of our socio-cultural activities and accomplishments via a series of events throughout the year and the curtain-raiser for the commemoration will take place at the Berkman Hall Auditorium of the Cleveland State University.
We will showcase the journey of our organization and her memberships in a story telling manner based on different art forms including songs, dance, drama, recitation etc. The performances will demonstrate the journey of a small group of people of Bengali ethnicity from a corner of Southeast Asia and how they established their roots in North America, planting its sociocultural seeds and seeing it grow to its full potential. The scripted story describes the growth of a modest initial agenda taking bigger and bolder strides over time, adapting itself to the growing needs of the community around it, ultimately evolving into the biggest hub of Bengali culture in Ohio (one of the biggest in the Great Lakes states) enhancing cross-cultural awareness and promoting diversity in that context.
Our in-person live event will be held at Berkman Hall, Cleveland State University on April 16th, 2022.
Schedule:
5.00 PM: Social Hour and snacks
6.00 PM: Gates Open
6.30 PM: Program Begins
9.00 PM: Sumptuous Bengali Dinner and dessert
Dinner and Parking for this event are included in our Annual Patronage package.
Program details:
Inauguration
Bengali, the World Citizen
Bengali literature and culture are heavily influenced by many different countries and their art forms. After the inaugural part of the program, we will present this segment, to get a glimpse of the musical talents of Tagore and Nazrul and how their creativity was inspired by music from other countries. This tradition continues and we will showcase the musical genius of Salil Chowdhury and Kabir Suman exhibiting this global connection of Bengali music, song and poetry.
Bengali Festivities
Bengalis are famous for their different festivals and always eager to immerse in traditions of celebrating any events through some kind of festival. Durga Puja is considered as the biggest festival of the Bengalis and recently UNESCO inscribed Durga Puja to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Through this part we will present how this tradition is continued in Cleveland for the past five decades and feature some cultural aspects of the celebration
Theater
Theater is an integral part of our cultural pillars and the members of our society have a longstanding tradition of showcasing their theatrical talents. This part of the program is a story telling session of how a script is chosen, rehearsal is scheduled and finally the production is staged i.e. theater behind the theater.
Food
Nothing happens in Bengal without food. Bengali cultural program or any other festival has to have food as one of the most important constituents of the celebration. There will be an orchestrated effort with song, mime and act to showcase the enjoyment centered on different kind of food preparation.
In the Rhythm of Dance
Dance serves as an important element of our cultural expression and complements other musical components in any celebration. We have a very strong team of performers representing multiple generations and they will showcase different dance forms based on selected musical scores covering folk, traditional and contemporary music.
Recitation
Poetry comes naturally to most Bengalis especially in their early ages. Several poets had continually raised the bar for Bengali poetry over centuries. In this segment we will present a few jewels from our collections tied with a narrated script.
Together We Keep It Flowing This penultimate segment will present some of the best performances over the past few years conducted during different celebrations in our journey through various genres of dance, songs and recitations.
Closing
Some images from the program…
