By Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network—New Delhi (RD/CN)
New Delhi, Dec 19: Ryan Foundation’s ICFPA (International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts) celebrated its tenth anniversary of spreading peace and unity through the medium of performing arts at the National Bal Bhavan here recently.
Under the theme ‘I can. I will,’ ICFPA will continue its journey as Asia’s biggest festival of performing arts for children.
Union human resources minister Kapil Sibal, along with film maker Madhur Bhandarkar, raised the curtain at the opening ceremony of ‘ICFPA 2009’.
Ace tennis player Mahesh Bhupati was also a part of the festival’s decennial celebration. The four-day event will conclude on Saturday December 19.
The little delegates brought soil from their countries which were collected in a pot. As a mark of global togetherness, Sibal planted a sapling in the pot.
“While the plant will provide shade on growing up, these children will also become a source of knowledge once they enter their youth,” said Sibal.
He said, “As culture, history, and empathy, unites people from across the borders, religion and politics divide them into groups. Let us all collect human knowledge to come together to achieve peace and harmony. Let’s collect the value that unites us and makes the world a place worth living. That’s what we are trying to do in Copenhagen and that is what we should try doing everywhere”.
Bhandarkar and Bhupati also greeted almost 5,000 children from all over the world.
The metro welcomed the festival and over 20,000 viewers thronged all the four venues -National Bal Bhavan, Little Theatre Group, Pearey Lal Bhavan, and Sri Ram Centre, here.
The grand gala was a compilation of 250 productions from different countries and cultures. Trainers from selected nations worked together with the Indian children to facilitate the cultural exchange making it a ‘festival for the children of the world’.
“This unique initiative aims at bringing children from different parts of the world under one roof and makes them perform on a single platform. Over the years, the festival has grown with the expectations of our participants and I am happy that it is entering into its 10th successful year. I hope the children of Delhi will enjoy the performances and learn various cultures”, said Grace Pinto, managing director, Ryan Foundation’s.
To mark the occasion, an opening parade was held from Jantar Mantar to National Bal Bhavan on Wednesday morning with all the national and international participants.
Children from across the world walked hand in hand with flags of all the nations flying high.
These young global ambassadors represented the global mission of creating a world without violence, hatred, and war as they sang together shouting slogans for a peaceful world. It was a colorful extravaganza as circus jugglers, acrobats, and scores of other entertainers joined the cosmopolitan march.
The festival is hosted by the Ryan Foundation instituted by chairman Dr Augustine F Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto, who with their farsighted vision are relentlessly working to create unparalleled standards of education across the globe.
ICFPA has gone through a brilliant journey of nine years and in its tenth edition, it has been suffused with the creativity of Indian and international artists alike.
The festival will host over 5,000 children from countries like Bangladesh, Germany, Iran, Israel, India, Latvia, Nigeria, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Zambia, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Switzerland, and Thailand, amongst others.