Over 1,300 people came to see the blend of modern music and traditional dancing at the 2026 CultureFest, hosted by the Asian/Asian Pacific American Students' Coalition, on Saturday at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex fields.
The annual event, which was originally named Culture Night until 2023, still has the same message of showcasing Asian and Asian Pacific American cultural groups at ASU.
"The whole idea behind celebrating CultureFest is to help celebrate Asian, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which is originally a month dedicated to celebrating AAPI heritage in May," Maya Bustos, a freshman studying global politics and an intern for the AAPASC, said. "However, due to time constraints here at ASU and with our May schooling being cut down so soon, we use the festival to help celebrate it in that way, as well as to uplift a lot of our AAPI community here on campus."
The event has been in the works since October 2025, and takes community input into account when choosing the artists who will perform.
The festival showcased about a dozen performance groups, which were a mix of student bands and student organizations, from clubs to sororities.
This was also the first year the event had double headliners: Rhea Raj and Joon.
For many of those performing, it was important for them to share their culture with the rest of the ASU community.
"I'm an international student from India," Abhi Kathuria, Holophory's rhythm guitarist and a sophomore studying finance and supply chain management, said. "So taking part in cultural events like this is really interesting, because I get to see a whole new side of the world and something I haven't been a part of before."
In addition to musical performances, the event showcased dances from all throughout Asian culture.
Hannah Perlas, a sophomore studying biomedical sciences, performed a traditional Filipino folk dance called Tinikling with the Philippine American Student Association at ASU.
"It's a lot of fun to be able to display our culture and what is one of the most defining characteristics of being Filipino. We love showing off what our culture and ethnicity has to offer," Perlas said.
Event opener, Babytees, has opened the Culturefest for the past two years and explained that the event brings the Asian American community together.
"There's a lot of different people at ASU from different backgrounds and countries," Jeebesh Shrestha, Babytees' guitarist and a senior studying civil engineering, said.
The event's goal was to provide a second home to students who need it while promoting inclusivity on campus.
"There's a power in diversity of thought and that with every single different person, there's a different experience then a different story behind them, and each one of those stories helps to formulate something greater than just us," Bustos said.
Edited by Natalia Rodriguez, Senna James, Emilio Alvarado and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at galawre3@asu.edu.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Grace Lawrence is the lead reporter for the community and culture desk at The State Press. This is her 2nd semester working with The State Press.
