With an eye toward the future and reverence for the past, the 6th annual Asian-American Cultural Festival of Long Island will transport you to the exotic world of the Far East as depicted through the theme “Evolution.” Breaking from tradition where previous festivals focused on exquisitely detailed costumes, ancient traditions and classical musical performances, this festival will retain the visual opulence of earlier years but give festival-goers a glimpse of Asia 2012.

“We wanted to show how the many different cultures of Asia have evolved artistically so we’ve included modern dance, hot new jazz groups, K-Pop and J-Pop – currently the rage in Korea and Japan, classical art works with a contemporary twist, ancient martial arts techniques modernized for today’s students and even nouveau and traditional cuisine in the outside food court,” says this year’s festival chair Karen Bomzer who along with co-chairs Suiv Lee and Prafulba Vaghela oversee the event. The festival will be held on April 28th from 11am – 5pm.

The performers, under the direction of program organizer and choreographer Stella Shieh will be performing in both the main area – the Multi-purpose Room – and in a special staged performance in the Little Theater, both in Roosevelt Hall on the campus of Farmingdale State College. The college, which is celebrating its centennial this year is a major sponsor of the festival and strongly supports student and faculty involvement in areas such as graphic design of the posters and journal, volunteerism, and horticultural embellishments including a serene Asian garden on display in the lobby with gentle, ethereal and expressive live Japanese Butoh dancing as an accompaniment.

Children’s activities traditionally bring scores of wide-eyed visitors and this one is expected to be no different. Aside from several music and dance performances by children, new additions are workshops in dragon lantern assembly, Manga (Japanese animation), origami, hand bracelets, henna tattoos and flower designs for socks and hosiery. For children and adults there will be martial arts exhibitions in the Little Theater, raffle drawings, and an Asian-American (Festival) Idol competition. Professional, semi-professional and in-the-shower-singers can bring their own downloaded music to plug into a karaoke machine, pay a nominal fee and vie for the title. Asian-American (Festival) Idol will be administered by Leadership Huntington, with all proceeds going to the Huntington Community Council – a local nonprofit.

Admission to the festival is free and families of all nationalities are invited to attend. The stage performance has limited seating and costs $5 for adults and $3 for children. Sponsors and participants include small and large businesses such as the North Shore-LIJ Health System; World Journal; Wealth Management Solutions; the TzuChi Foundation; the Culture Center of T.E.C.O. NY and others. The program is made possible in part by a grant from the NY State Council of the Arts administered by the Huntington Arts Council. Visit www.aacfli.org for more details or call 631.754.6640 or 917.499.1100.