Body, Mind & Soul Festival: an evening of workshops, discussions, food, music and dance to explore the ideas of beauty, health and spirituality.
Started as a Center for Principal Problem Solving project, Feminism Redefined and Allied in Multicultural Experiences will host the festival on Saturday, April 23 from 5–7 p.m. in the Multicultural Education Department in King Hall.
Through an array of workshops covering everything from sexual health to meditation, the festival aims to spread a contagious positivity to all who attend.
“We wanted a positive place for everyone to come together, no matter who you are or where you are coming from, to celebrate ourselves,” said senior and Vice President of FRAME Fiona Lloyd-Muller. “Our aim is to celebrate everyone and make everyone feel happy, accepted and beautiful. Who doesn’t want to feel that way?”
For this year, the second year of the festival, FRAME has changed some aspects to cater more to Guilford.
“This year, we are focusing more locally with our workshops, on the Guilford and Greensboro community,” said Lloyd-Muller.
“Last year, we had a larger focus with our guest speaker being Heather Hazzan, a successful ‘plus-size’ model and photographer who came to speak about her relationship with her body, overcoming an eating disorder and the industry from a ‘plus-size’ model’s point of view today.”
This year, the festival will host Alicia Andrews, a guest graduate student from Widener University, who will impart her knowledge and perspective on sexual health and sex positivity.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to package toiletry items for women in Greensboro experiencing homelessness and learn how empowering and reframing a simple selfie can be.
Through this festival, FRAME hopes to further its mission to celebrate everyone.
“We came together because we were all really interested in body image, identity, racism, sexism and social justice,” said Lloyd-Muller.
“A lot of people think of feminism and think of white lesbians burning their bras. They think of extreme feminism.”
However, this is not at all what FRAME seeks to promote.
“We want (the festival) to be a space that isn’t just about body confidence, religion or one thing but an intersectional, everyone -welcome kind of place,” said Lloyd-Muller.
“We want to empower people to feel powerful in their sexuality.”
Last year’s attendees and presenters can attest to the focused message of the festival.
“Last year, I presented on the concept of hijab and beauty,” said junior Tasmia Zafar. “The way beauty is seen in the Muslim culture is you take out the concept of body. The hijab covers your hair and is modest dressing, so no one pays attention to your body, but it is more focused on your personality, mind and soul that quantify your beauty.”
Zafar’s message of putting aside the body and focusing on inner beauty fit perfectly with the theme of last year’s festival. This year, she encourages everyone to have the marvelous experience she had.
“Everyone should go because it is the body, mind and soul,” said Zafar. “It really makes you think about societal norms, how you can change them and about how other people perceive beauty and their body.”
If you are looking for an informative, explorative and insightful evening, FRAME has just the event for you.
“Last year’s event was so fun and left me with such a strong feeling of love and confidence as well as pride in the Guilford community for having such incredible people who could present on all these different topics,” said junior Nellie Vinograd, a festival organizer and treasurer of FRAME.
“Body, Mind and Soul has some seriously good vibes, which I think people definitely need during this stressful time of year.”
Convince your body and mind to enlighten your soul on Saturday, April 23, by attending the Body, Mind & Soul Festival.
