Earlier this month saw another hugely successful Bring Your Culture to Work Day celebration! We sampled delicious food from over 25 cultures, took part in activities and saw some wonderful performances that highlighted the cultural diversity of the Crick. Check out the photo gallery below for a reminder of the whirlwind event!

Daytime: food, conversations and activities

Jacqueline Davies, our Chief People Officer, opened the daytime esvent by thanking the BYCTW day committee (especially co-chairs Anika Tailor and Ana Gomes) for their hard work, and congratulating logo design winner Mike Gavrielides on his winning design.

The atrium was packed with over 500 of us for the lunchtime celebration. Stall holders kindly handed out delicious food samples and taught us about their culture through photos, videos, playlists, maps, traditional clothing and games. In the seminar rooms, we enjoyed salsa classes, as well as Chinese fan making, calligraphy and more. 

Evening: dance, music and human towers

After the excitement of the daytime celebration, we looked forward to the evening portion of BYCTW day. We kicked off some incredible performances with an Indian classical dance from Sandhya Sridrar, who explained that the dance represented a woman waiting on her lover's return. We then heard a beautiful musical conversation between Nik Palamidas on Oud and Nima Rahimi Salekdeh on Sitar. The Crick choir took us on a melodic journey, performing several songs from around the world. Finally, we welcomed the Castellers of London for some dizzying human-tower-building, which ended with a number of Crick onlookers braving the heights and having a go themselves!

The evening also included the "Spirits of the World" stall, which gave us a taste of well-loved beverages from different cultures, and wrapped up with a quiz from expert quizmaster Steve Potvin. Congratulations to the winning team, "Los Winneros"!

Reflections

What a wonderful, special event. I loved how it brought everyone together; you are all to be commended on making the Crick feel ‘like a home from home’.

– Jacqueline Davies, Chief People Officer

BYCTW day is definitely one of the highlights in my Crick calendar and this year's celebration was outstanding! It was heartwarming to see the entire Crick community, from scientists to 'front of house' staff all coming together to celebrate each other's cultures and enjoy this special day. The atrium was transformed into a colourful, vibrant bazaar with stalls of delicious cuisine from different countries (I sampled so much that I had to skip lunch!) There were many interactive activities on offer; I joined a Salsa dance class, strummed a bouzouki, flicked discs on a Carrom board and even got my first henna tattoo which I'm still proudly sporting. Huge thanks to the BYCTW day organising committee who worked so tirelessly to bring it all together and of course to the many teams of stall holders who created the colourful, culinary displays.

– Debi Das, Senior LRS

This year's BYCTW day was tremendous. As an organiser for the China stall, we wanted to give people something interactive, engaging and fun this year, alongside delicious food, so we organised cultural workshop activities like Qishan – Chinese fan decoration arts. It was amazing to see everyone taking part. BYCTW day is such a special opportunity to share and embrace ethnic cultures with our colleagues and everyone at the Crick. It felt like one of those things that make us appreciate the uniquely collaborative and inclusive culture of the Crick.

– Yujia Zhang, PhD student

It’s such a joy to give a space for people to share large aspects of their lives that they may not get to share otherwise with the people that they spend their days working closely with. Seeing the happiness in people sharing their cultures, having great conversations and learning about other people's cultures is what makes this event so special.

– Anika Tailor, BYCTW day committee co-chair

BYCTW day is a really exciting event that lets us discover new cultures in the institute and revisit familiar ones each year. It is amazing to see how this day has developed since its inception in 2018. I wanted it to be an event about staff for staff, providing a space for us to find out more about each other in addition to our science. I am very proud that my initial idea has developed into this and I look forward to the evolution of the event for many years to come.

– Karen Ambrose, BYCTW day initiator