DeKalb area residents have a chance to learn about world culture today without having to travel far.

For the fifth year, the Mini-World Showcase will represent cultures and traditions from all around the globe.

Annette Johnson Serrano, coordinator of the O’Connor Global Education Consortium, said the World Showcase is beneficial to the community because it fits in with the unity in diversity theme the college is trying to convey.

“It helps them to open horizons and broaden their understanding of the world. We put (the showcase) together to create awareness of different cultures,” she said..”

The showcase will be held in the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Exhibition booths will be sponsored by international students and community members with ethnic heritage or residents who’ve spent a great deal of time in a particular area, Serrano said.

Representatives from different countries will wear national costumes, display representative artifacts, play traditional music and serve samples of foods from their homelands. They also will display artwork, pottery and clothing native to their countries, Serrano said.

While the exhibition booths are on display, dancers from countries ranging from India to Nigeria will be performing styles of dance rarely seen in this country. A martial arts demonstration of Aikido also will be presented.

Films designed to enlighten viewers on cultures in Thailand, Poland, Japan, Costa Rica, Korea and Namibia, will be shown throughout the day in the the student center’s Regency Room.

“With the judgement and tension going on in the world, it makes for better understanding of cultures,” Serrano said.