The 20th annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, historically a four-day event, will begin early for IU students.

IU, the new School of Global and International Studies and Lotus will present a kick-off concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union. The concert will be free for IU students.

The concert will feature Chicago’s Funkadesi, Montreal’s Nomadic Massive and Bloomington’s Pan-Basso. The performers’ diversity parallels the SGIS mission, said Associate Dean for International Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences Maria Bucur-Deckard.

“This year continues a tradition of area studies units helping to bring in Lotus artists from their respective regions,” Bucur-Deckard said in a press release. “We are delighted to bring Lotus on campus through this and other events and provide unprecedented access to these remarkable cultural ambassadors.”

Wristbands will serve as tickets to the event and will be given to the first 800 people in attendance.

“IU is a global campus,” Provost Lauren Robel said in a press release. “Lotus brings world music to Bloomington. We are wonderfully aligned in our passion for global interconnectivity and cultural exchange.”

The Lotus Campus Kickoff celebrates the many ways in which Bloomington is a truly global community, Robel said.

“We are delighted that our free concert in Alumni Hall will bring the incredible Lotus atmosphere to campus,” Robel said. “It will also be an opportunity to showcase our vast array of academic opportunities for students to engage with the world.”

IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures was Lotus’ first venue and featured a folk music set by doctoral student Andrew Lazaro. His show was followed by a parade to the Waldron Arts Center, symbolically linking the IU campus and the Bloomington community. IU has been an active supporter of Lotus for now two decades.