World Cultural Festival
ਵਿਸ਼ਵ ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰਕ ਤਿਉਹਾਰ
Rajasthani Artists' green room at the World Cultural Festival 2016 held in New Delhi.
Rajasthani Artists' green room at the World Cultural Festival 2016 held in New Delhi.
Statusactive
Genrefestivals
Dates2011 (Berlin), 2016 (New Delhi),[1] 2023 (Washington DC)
Location(s)New Delhi, Berlin, Bangalore, Washington, DC
CountryIndia, Germany, United States
FounderRavi Shankar
Most recent28 September 2023 to 1 October 2023
Attendance2.1 million (average)[2]
Activity
Organised byThe Art of Living Foundation

The World Cultural Festival (WCF) is a global event series organized by the Art of Living Foundation.

History

The Art of Living Foundation documents the first edition of the festival as 2006 in Bangalore. However, the event received little media attention compared to the 2011 and 2016 editions respectively.

In July 2011, the festival was organized at Berlin Olympic Stadium. Attendance were estimated at 60,000.[3]

In 2016, the festival was held on the Yamuna floodplains in New Delhi from 11 to 13 March.[4] It was organised by Ravi Shankar to celebrate the Art of Living Foundation’s 35 years in service.[5] Attendance was estimated at around 3.5 million people in audience and 37,000 artists over 3 days.[6] The performances were held on a 100 feet tall by 1,200 feet wide stage with an area of seven acres.[7] Around 1,700 officials were deployed for traffic management, during the festival, and around 300 were on standby for the other events (specifically marriages) to be held during the festival.[8]

Argentinean Performers on the World Cultural Festival's stage.

In 2016, the festival was chaired by Justice RC Lahoti.[9] Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali from United Nations was also listed as a co-chair for the event but he died prior to the event. Some other committee members included former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers; Nancy Pelosi, Katherine Clark and Ed Witfield from United States Congress; and former Lithuanian president Vytautas Landsbergis.[10]

Following the 2016 edition, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull invited Art of Living Foundation to Australia for the next World Culture Festival.[11]

In March 2023, AoL announced their next WFC event to be held in Washington, DC from 29 September to 1 October 2023.[12]

By September 29, 2023, more than 600,000 people registered to attend at least one day of the event. WFC 2023 featured 17,000 performers[13] from more than 100 countries and interviews with notable leading figures from various fields including former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said he was introduced to Ravi Shankar through Vijay Nambiar, who worked as his former chief of staff. Jaime Aparicio attended the event and said he was inspired by Shankar's humanitarian and diplomatic efforts when he was one of the mediators to end the Colombian conflict in 2015. Another notable guest to the 2023 edition was former Slovenian Prime Minister Alojz Peterle, who performed playing the harmonica. Rabbi Sharon Cohen President of the Hebrew Collge spoke to the attendees at the event coinciding with the second day of the Jewish festival of Sukkot.[14] Forrmer Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki attended the event and gave a speeh.[15] Conservative Brritish politician Robert Buckland also gave a speech during the event.[16] During the second day of the event, a Ukrainian heritage group composed of a hundred artists performed the Hopak, a Ukrainian folklore dance.[17] Five Bulgarian folklore dance groups numbereing more than two hundred[18] dancers performed in the event.[19][20][21] Other notable figures who attended the 2023 edition include: Vivek Murthy, Muriel Bowser, President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, S. Jaishankar, Ryzsard Czarnecki, Ramnath Kovind, and Tim Draper. [22][23][24][25]

Notable guests and security concerns

The 2016 edition was attended by various global and local religious and political leaders.[11] Participants included former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, Vice-President of Suriname Ashwin Adhin and Karu Jayasuriya from the Sri Lankan Parliament.[26] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also in audience and compared the festival to a "kumbh mela" of art.[27] Other Indian leaders including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Devendra Fadnavis, Raman Singh and Manish Sisodia attended the event on 12 March 2016.[28] The last day of the event was attended by many BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.[29]

The event was also promoted as an interfaith meet and attended by religious leaders like Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, Mufti Mohammed Saeed Khan, Shankaracharya Vasudevanand Saraswati among others.[30]

President Pranab Mukherjee declined to attend the event after first accepting the invitation due to concerns about environment law violations.[31] Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe also pulled out of the event citing security and protocol issues.[32] A separate enclosure had to be constructed for Narendra Modi also due to a security threat.[33]

Local criticism, concern raised by the NGT, and plea to the Supreme Court

The festival was criticized in the Indian news media for environmental reasons.[34] The foundation was involved in a legal battle with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which allowed the festival to be held after paying a security deposit of ₹5 crore (US$630,000) in order to compensate for any possible damage.[35] The Art of Living Foundation questioned the findings by the tribunal and has since then submitted a plea in the Supreme Court of India.[36][37][38] Eventually it was found that the entire area where the event took place was successfully cleared without any damage and handed over to the respective authorities.

Editions

World Cultural Festival's Editions
Year Location Date Note
2011Berlin Olympic Stadium, Berlin[39]2 July 2011 to 3 July 201160,000[40]
2016Yamuna, New Delhi11 March 2016 to 13 March 20163.75 million[6] (of which 36,000[35]-37,000[1] artists) attended the event
Scheduled
2023National Mall, Washington, DC29 September 2023 to 1 October 2023[12]nearly 1 million attended the event[41][42][43]

References

  1. 1 2 Sanghavi, Mionee (3 May 2016). "World Event a Big Moment for Bengaluru Dancer". www.newindianexpress.com.
  2. ↑ Williams, Elliot C. (5 July 2023). "A Mysterious Foundation Is Throwing A Huge Cultural Festival On The National Mall".
  3. ↑ Jacobs, Stephen (1 October 2014). "Inner Peace and Global Harmony: Individual Wellbeing and Global Solutions in the Art of Living". Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research. 6 (4): 873–889. doi:10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146873. hdl:2436/621287. ISSN 2000-1525.
  4. ↑ "As it happened: 'This is the Kumbh Mela of culture'", The Hindu, 11 March 2016
  5. ↑ "LIVE: Watch - Art of Living's World Culture Festival 2016– Day 3", Zee News, 13 March 2016, archived from the original on 16 April 2016
  6. 1 2 "The World Culture Festival was a sight to behold". Star2.com. 30 March 2016. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  7. ↑ Perappadan, Bindu Shajan (15 April 2016). "Art of Living stage finally dismantled". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "Sri Sri's World Culture Festival and rain choke Delhi roads", Mail Today, 12 March 2016
  9. ↑ "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival: Things to look out for". The Indian Express. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  10. ↑ "Art of Living announces World Culture Fest to be held in March 2016". dna. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Art of Living event: Global leaders hail Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival". The Financial Express. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  12. 1 2 "Washington DC to host World Culture Festival 2023". www.deccanchronicle.com. 4 March 2023.
  13. ↑ "One World Family: 4th World Culture Festival celebrates unity in diversity". 4 October 2023.
  14. ↑ "President Anisfeld Speaks at World Culture Festival in Washington, DC". Hebrew College. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "La mégalomanie de Moncef Marzouki". Turess. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  16. ↑ "Sir Robert's Speech to World Cultural Forum, Washington DC". Rt Hon Robert Buckland KC MP. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Як український гопак у Вашингтоні зірвав овації 180 країн світу. Відео (in Ukrainian), 7 October 2023, retrieved 22 November 2023
  18. ↑ "300 Bulgarians from USA present Bulgarian folklore at World Culture Festival in Washington". bnr.bg. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Световен културен фестивал: 225 българи взривиха сцената във Вашингтон". BG VOICE (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "Над 200 българи представиха страната ни на Световния културен фестивал във Вашингтон". Fakti.bg - Да извадим фактите наяве (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  21. ↑ "България бе представена на Световен културен фестивал във Вашингтон". www.bta.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  22. ↑ Gingras, Angelique (18 October 2023). "World Culture Festival promotes a 'mission of unity and diversity'". Washington Diplomat. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  23. ↑ Inside The 2023 World Culture Festival, 6 October 2023, retrieved 22 November 2023
  24. ↑ Nazzaro, Miranda (29 September 2023). "World Culture Festival to touch down in DC in push for unity". The Hill. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  25. ↑ "DC's 2023 World Culture Festival Presents a Diverse Array of Cultural Performances". 6 October 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  26. ↑ "Foreign nationals, including 80 from Pakistan, participate in Art of Living fest". Deccan Chronicle. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  27. ↑ "If we damn ourselves, why will world take note of us: PM Modi at Sri Sri's World Culture Festival". The Indian Express. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  28. ↑ "Top Union Ministers, NDA CMs attend World Cultural Festival", Daily News and Analysis, 12 March 2016
  29. ↑ "Don't Politicise Such Events, Says Sri Sri As World Culture Festival Ends", NDTV, 14 March 2016
  30. ↑ Kakr, Sanjiv. "The World Culture Festival Isn't 'Crony Spiritualism'". The Diplomat. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  31. ↑ "After environment row, President Pranab Mukherjee pulls out of Sri Sri's mega event". India Today. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  32. ↑ "Mugabe must resign over India trip". www.zimbabwesituation.com. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  33. ↑ "Sri Sri Event Cleared With 5 Crore Fine And Separate Enclosure For PM". NDTV.com. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  34. ↑ "Why India's huge 'spiritual' festival has run into trouble". BBC News. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  35. 1 2 "Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu backs Art of Living's world cultural festival", The Economic Times, 11 March 2016
  36. ↑ "Art of Living questions expert panel's Yamuna floodplains findings". The Economic Times. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  37. ↑ Mittal, Priyanka (2 February 2018). "SC notice on plea against environment compensation imposed on Art of Living for damage to Yamuna floodplains". Mint. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  38. ↑ "Vyakti Vikas Kendra India vs Manoj Misra on 5 September, 2018". indiankanoon.org. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  39. ↑ "World Culture Festival begins - Olympiastadion Berlin". www.olympiastadion.berlin.
  40. ↑ "Elitsa Todorova - Olympic Stadium - Berlin - World Culture Festival".
  41. ↑ "Over 1 million gather for a global celebration of cultures, faiths, making a noise for peace, in a polarized world: Special Odissi performance wins hearts at World Culture Festival". Odisha Diary, Latest Odisha News, Breaking News Odisha. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  42. ↑ "세계문화축제 DC서 열려 - 미주 한국일보". dc.koreatimes.com (in Korean). Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  43. ↑ Stefan, Dana (3 October 2023). "World Culture Festival brought over 1 million people together in Washington". Travel Tomorrow. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
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