FusionFest returns for its fifth annual festival in Orlando, highlighting cultures, food and art from around the world during the two-day event.
Thousands of visitors are expected to congregate at Seneff Arts Plaza outside of Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Nov. 26-27 to experience more than 1,000 local artists representing 110 global cultures.
An opening spectacle and citizenship ceremony will kick off each day of the festival. Among the participants in this dazzling display will be puppets and puppeteers from MicheLee Puppets, a workshop that’s been operating in Central Florida for nearly four decades.
“Both days we have an opening spectacle where these puppets will process out with flags from all over the world to surround the audience,” said Terry Olson, Orange County’s director of arts and cultural affairs and chief instigator for FusionFest. “There will be two dozen brass players on the stage, a choir of 50 people and six African drummers.”
Eight puppets, some standing as high as 10 feet, will greet visitors at the festival. Three of the figures are new for this year — a Jamaican man, a Ukrainian woman and an Indigenous person. They were constructed with the diligent help of volunteers.
“This was a countywide celebration of people getting together, 75 volunteers that came here during a weekend to build these puppets,” said Denise Lucich, the communications manager for MicheLee Puppets. “We create, we educate and we collaborate. This festival embodies everything we do.”
Other performance art includes a poetry slam and teen poetry showcase, a global street dance party, a fashion show and a variety of dancers showcasing styles from around the world.
Aside from the stages, visitors can explore global eats, a cosplay contest, an International Marketplace, artists selling their work and a Family Village with art projects and games.
There’s also the “Cardboard Village of the World,” which is returning for its second year. Arlenne Gil, an Orlando architect, is helping to spearhead the effort with help from colleagues and students from Valencia, UCF and University of Florida’s CityLab.
The team is cultivating an array of cardboard structures, about two dozen in total, that resemble the Arc de Triomphe, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House, a Japanese pagoda and more.
“It’s been a mixture of culturally historic architecture and modern architecture,” Gil said. “It’s meant to be standing long enough for kids to run in and out. One of the volunteers brought his toddler last week, so we’ve had some market research.”
Both days will conclude with a signature show entitled “Kaleidoscope – The Wonders of Creative Collaboration,” which features more than 40 musicians, singers and dancers.
All of the creators and artists behind this festival aim to celebrate global cultures and give the community a forum to learn and love.
“The great thing about FusionFest for Central Florida is it engages all the cultures, all of the countries, every person, every ethnicity, every gender and embraces them in that festival,” Lucich said. “It’s an amazing thing. It’s a very inclusive, very loving event.”
If you go
FusionFest returns 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 26 and noon-6 p.m. Nov. 27 at 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in Orlando. The festival is free to attend. For more information and a full schedule, visit fusionfest.org or call 407-836-5540.
Find me @PConnPie on Twitter and Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
