Beaconhouse National University’s annual multi-category event, The Bestival, is back again and it’s bigger than ever. Being a thematic event, Team Bestival changes the outlook of the event every year to make it more interesting. Previous Bestivals were themed around superheroes, Steam-Punk and even quintessence. This year, however, The Bestival is about something else. This year, the Bestival wants to talk about sustainability. This year, the Bestival wants us to join hands and save our planet. This year, BNU’s Bestival goes green.
Due to the result of excessive anthropogenic activity, the environmental issues of our planet have become more and more worrying in the recent past. It is because of these reasons that the BNU Bestival has chosen to make way towards a new adventure by answering mother nature’s call for help by not only celebrating all that mother nature has given us, but by giving back.
Voting for a more clean, pure and hopeful world, this year’s Bestival is titled “Pristine Seventeen.”
For those who don’t know, BNU’s Bestival is a multi-category event that features multiple competitions during the daytime, and social events at night. The event occurs over a span of four days and features a total of 23 competitions in total. The competitions are divided into 3 main categories, namely Performing Arts (Dramatics, Stand-up comedy, Art of Motion), Media and Literary (Video Production, Photography, Poetry) and Sports (Football, Volleyball, Table tennis). When all the competitions have taken place during the day, the participants are then allowed to relax by enjoying the social events in the evening. Over the years, there have been a variety of social events held at the Bestival such as fashions shows, concerts of household names such as Noori, and even a Qawwali night featuring Mr. Asif Ali Santoo himself.
So now that we know all about what the Bestival is, let’s talk about what makes it special. The Bestival is made by the students, for the students. Every aspect of the event is, on some level, part of an effort made by the students of BNU. From collecting money from sponsors, to handling logistics, to logo designing, to heading competitions, all is done by the young guns.
This year, the convener for the entire event is 4th year, Psychology student Sheza Naeem. Having previously worked in multiple Bestivals before, Sheza brings to the table new ideas, experience and leadership. Working under Sheza is the core team that consists of a combination of individuals who’ve excelled in a variety of fields during previous Bestivals. This time around, the core consists of Awais Mughal (former registrations head), who broke the record of past Bestivals in terms of participants registered, Aiman Gillani (former event management head), who worked tirelessly and made sure every competition and social event ran on smooth transitions, Zain Shah (former logistics head), whose planning and organizational skills helped in all the arrangements be ready for each and every event, Zain Gardezi (former sponsorships team member), whose interpersonal skills and warmest of personalities managed to attract many a brand to sponsor last year’s Bestival, Roshanay Asif (former Technopreneurship head), who managed to chair an entire tech start-up event on her own, Sijal Raza (former social media head), whose efforts made sure the Bestival went viral last year as she managed to capture every moment on camera, Urooj Tarar (former sponsorships head), who managed to break the record of the sum of money collected from sponsorships during last year’s event and Hassaan Rathore, the man behind the idea for the much acclaimed logo for last year’s Bestival. With a core and convener this strong, one has to feel this year’s Bestival could be something to remember.
Over the years, the Bestival has grown as an event and it’s predicted that BNU will be the host to thousands again for this year’s Bestival. Something that not many know is that BNU is a non-profit organization and that the entire event is financed from the money collected from sponsors. The sponsorship team, also made up of BNU students, go out to local as well as multi-national companies in hopes of getting them to fund the Bestival and help make it something more. BNU Bestival ’17 will be held from the 23rd of February to the 26th, next year. BNU is going green, are you?
BNU Bestival’s official Internet presence:
Facebook: BNU Bestival
Twitter: @BNUBestival
Snapchat: @BNUBestivallive
Instagram: @bnubestival
Website: http://www.bestival.bnu.edu.pk/
