'Olympic-scale World Culture Festival to send message of global unity'

Washington: The Olympic-scale World Culture Festival to be attended by thousands of people from over 100 countries and a gathering of global leaders would send a message of global unity, organisers of the mega event have said.

More than 600,000 people have registered for the three-day event beginning at the National Mall here on Friday which will see an unprecedented performance from more than 17,000 artists from over 100 countries.

VIDEO | Preparations underway for World Cultural Festival 2023 in Washington, D.C., USA.

"An event like this right in the heart of Washington, D.C. in front of the capitol which is a very significant location for bringing people together, celebrating each other's culture,… pic.twitter.com/p3aGzdXZV8

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 28, 2023

“This festival could not have arrived in this iconic place at any better time. With so much polarisation around us, and so much negativity, mental health challenges abound during that time. Gurudev’s (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) message of one World Family comes alive through this festival,” Art of Living Foundation spokesperson Kushal Choksi told PTI on Thursday.

“We are on this iconic National Mall where history is made and the world is again going to see more than 180 countries come together, celebrate their culture, celebrate their differences on this massive global stage,” Choksi said.

He said the goal of the festival is to create a visible, public forum to celebrate the differences - as One World Family.

“There are actually millions of people who wish for unity, who wish for coming together, who wish to be in their heart as opposed to being in their head,” Louis Gagnon, head of marketing for World Culture Festival said.

“We are the same. We are one. Let's just focus on that and be that and experience that and seek to experience that in our lives, is the message that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has for all of us,” he said.

In view of an imminent government shutdown, Choksi said Friday and Saturday programming on the National Mall remains unchanged irrespective of the government shutdown outcome.

“In case the National Mall becomes inaccessible due to the government shutdown, we will move the Sunday portion of our programming to a private venue and live stream it to our local, national and international audiences,” he said.

“We are excited to welcome hundreds of thousands of people to the National Mall this weekend in celebration of diversity and harmony,” he added.

Gagnon said more than 10,000 volunteers have worked to make it a grand success.

The line of cultural performances includes a Chinese cultural performance with 1,000 singers, dancers and dragons; a Garba extravaganza with 7,000 dancers that will encourage audience participation; a 50th-anniversary tribute to Hip-Hop with Kurtis Blow, SHA-Rock, Sequence Girls and DJ Kool and other legends of Hip Hop alongside 100 break dancers debuting choreography by King Charles and Kelli Forman.

A total of 700 Indian classical dancers with a live symphony will participate along with 100 Ukrainian dancers in a lively Hopak.