Sri Sri brings Olympic-size culture fest to Washington D.C.
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 May, 2023 12:30 PM
Washington, May 19 (IANS) Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living announced Thursday it will co-host its trademark Olympic-scale World Culture Festival on Washington D.C.'s iconic National Mall, which has been called America's Front Yard, later this year in September-October.
"We need to bridge the gap. There is a lot of polarisation in the world," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said at a news conference.
"The World Culture Festival is an occasion for people to come together and celebrate each other's differences. It is the need of the hour, to bring people together in celebration and to spread the message of peace and to say that we are one human family."
Holding the fourth edition of the World Culture Festival in Washington D.C. will send a message to the whole planet as "there is so much need for awareness about the importance of non-violence and creating peace and (resolving) mental health issues," the spiritual leader added.
The Art of Living is co-hosting the cultural event with the government of the city of Washington D.C.
"Washington D.C. is the perfect city to bring people together from around the globe," said Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
"We are a city that celebrates diversity and inclusivity, a global city, a welcoming city, and a city that loves visitors. We know that Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's message that 'diversity is the beauty of creation' aligns with our D.C. values. So, we invite people to plan their visits, and we'll see you in the fall!"
The three-day event will be held from September 29 to October 1 and organisers said they expect more than 1,50,000 people to participate, coming from all over the world. They added that as a measure of the early buzz about the event, more than 50,000 people have already registered to attend.
The three-day festival will be packed with cultural performances and culinary offerings from around the world -- including dancers and performers from India, China and Ukraine -- and a long list of world leaders have already committed their presence and participation such as former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and former Indian Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu.
The Art of Living is bringing the festival for the first time to the US -- the previous three iterations were held in Bengaluru (2006), Berlin (2011) and New Delhi (2016). Upwards of seven million people attended these events altogether, the organisers have said.
The National Mall is an iconic location -- called, as noted, America's Front Yard. It's home to the Washington Monument, Memorials to Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, and to World War II and the Vietnam and Korean wars.
The Art of Living had considered other venues as well such as Los Angeles in California and Albuquerque (home to epic TV show 'Breaking Bad') in New Mexico. But they chose Washington D.C.
When asked by Washington D.C., Sri Sri countered with another question, rhetorically: "Why not Washington DC."
Six Sikhs were killed in the August 5, 2012, attack in which four people, including a police officer, were injured and one person died last year from the wounds sustained in the shooting.
U.S.-based Novavax partnered with the Serum Institute of India to apply in the three countries, and plans later this month to also seek the World Health Organization review needed to be part of the COVAX global vaccine program.
The Biden administration has kept in place travel restrictions that have severely curtailed international trips to the U.S., citing the spread of the delta variant of the virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents who have been to China, the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the prior 14 days are prohibited from entering the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
