Media Release

Mumbai, Jan 9: The festival that was spread over 4 days had its grand finale on January 7 with assorted list of guests like Govinda, Johnny Lever, Nanik Rupani, Ryan Pinto, Shaina NC, Rakhi Sawant, Girish Gandhi, Neeraj Shridhar, Juhi Babbar, Nadira Babbar, Sameer Wankhede and others.

The opening parade began at Ryan Global School Andheri at 10:30 am where all the national and international participants from Bangladesh, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iran, Italy, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zambia walked hand in hand propagating international peace and unity. Children of the world raised the flags of their respective countries flying high.  It was a colorful extravaganza as circus jugglers, acrobats and other entertainers joined this cosmopolitan march.

 
The highlight of the third day was World Village at Ryan International School, Andheri, which provided an opportunity for students to pick up mementoes and gifts from various countries.  Utkarsh Marvah, festival director stated, “The whole idea of the World Village revolved around opening to the youth of the world, the doors to countries other than their own, so that the young minds open and relate to other cultures too.” 

As a sapling was planted in the soil brought from all 18 countries, Grace Pinto said, “Theatre is a powerful medium, it binds people and brings out the best in them.  This 4-day festival brought together children from 18 countries instilling in them a sense of respect for each other and deepen international bonding and broaden their cultural horizons.”

Ryan International Group of Institutions inaugurated the 12th edition of the ICFPA (2013) under the theme “One World for Children” on January 4 at Shri Shanmukhananda Auditorium, Mumbai.

The aim of the festival was to provide the children of the world, the opportunity to come together and exchange ideas and learn various cultures while also exposing them to various genres of performing arts to discover their talents and express their aspiration. 

The chief guest of the Grand Opening Ceremony was Governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan. On the rhythm of Vande Mataram the festival was formally declared open by Karisma Kapoor followed by scintillating performing arts performances by Indian and International students. 

Ryan students presented Drums of India, India Shinning and the Giant Puppet Show while the International artists from 18 countries performed dance ballets, musical dramas and traditional genres of their respective countries.

The governor in his speech congratulated Dr A F Pinto, Chairman and Grace Pinto, MD, Ryan Group for conceptualizing this unique and excellent event that brings together the children of the world on one platform for over a decade, enabling universal harmony among them, the future citizens of the world.  He also added that it is a great privilege for children to study in Ryan Institutions.

The ceremony was attended by Consul Generals Upekkha Samaratunga, Sri Lanka, Surendra Parikh, Zambia, Ceylan Ozen Erisen, Turkey, Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan Group, Boman Irani, Prahlad Khakkar, Aditi Govitrikar, Arif Ali Khouri, Saroj Khan, Asif Qureshi, Mukesh Sharma, V. Ramaswamy, and Ps. Shekhar among many others.

Yet another novel initiative was White T-Shirt Ceremony.  The performers adorned in pure White T-Shirt scribbled messages of peace and harmony in different languages on the T-Shirts to give and take home a message that there is no replacement for peace.

For both Indian and International participants, Ryan’s ICFPA will remain an unforgettable experience where they made new friends, learnt new cultures and together expressed their desires for one world.