The 2023 World Culture Festival announced its preliminary lineup at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, May 18.
“We are delighted to host the 4th annual World Culture Festival. Washington, D.C. is the perfect city to bring people together from around the globe,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “We are a city that celebrates diversity and inclusivity, a global city, a welcoming city, and a city that loves visitors.”
The preliminary lineup for the festival includes more than 50 world leaders and a myriad of performers and entertainers from across the globe, including former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, 100 Native American performers, and 500 Indian classical dancers, just to name a few!
“We need to bridge the gap. There is a lot of polarization in the world,” Art of Living founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said. “The World Culture Festival is an occasion for people to come together and celebrate each other’s differences.”
In the lead-up to the festival, D.C. will also be hosting multiple pop-up cultural events throughout each ward of the city! The first one will be held Saturday, May 20 in Columbia Heights’ Meridian Hill Park. The first pop-up will feature music and dancing (including D.C.’s own Go-Go music!), a variety of cuisines, henna tattoos, yoga, and a live meditation led by Shankar.
It was announced in February that D.C. would be hosting the 2023 World Culture Festival in September.
The three-day festival, hosted by the Art of Living Foundation, will run from September 29 through October 1, 2023, on the National Mall. Attendees will get to experience live music, art, food, and dancing from a variety of nations and cultures, as well as partake in meditation and attend inspirational talks.
For more information on the festival or to get tickets, visit the World Culture Festival website.