More than 450K people expected to attend World Culture Festival in Washington

More than 4,50,000 people from across the world are expected to attend the World Culture Festival (WCF), a brainchild of Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, at the prestigious National Mall here next week.

A host of global leaders will address the WCF, which is being hosted by the Art of Living and is said to be the 'Olympics of world's culture'.

Organisers of the event said more than 17,000 diverse cultural artists, entertainers and speakers will perform on the largest stage ever built in the nation's capital from September 29 to October 1.

The dynamic lineup features over 50 performances including a Chinese cultural performance with 1,000 singers, dancers and dragons; a 'Garba' extravaganza with 7,000 dancers that will encourage audience participation; a 50th anniversary tribute to hip-hop.

More than 700 Indian classical dancers will perform with a live symphony. The cultural festival will also see 100 Ukrainian dancers perform folk dance 'Hopak'.

Over 1,000 guitarists led by Grammy Award winner Micki Free, performance of the official World Culture Festival theme song 'Una Familia' unifying citizens of more than 150 nations and live reggae with Skip Marley, the grandson of legendary Bob Marley, culminating with the classic 'One Love' will also be part of the festival.

A one-mile stretch between the National Mall and the Capitol Hill would feature cultural pavilions and activities including fashion showcases. More than 80 international food trucks offering visitors a taste of cuisines from across the world will also be there.

The full lineup will include over 50 performance groups representing an array of cultural art forms from around the globe. The programme will feature a plethora of US-based artists presenting music, dance and performance art, the organisers here said.

Over 1,000 leaders from business, government and international institutions attending the festival will gather for the Global Leadership Forum (GLF) on September 30. The attendees will exchange ideas and forge partnerships to address key corporate and societal challenges of our time, they said.

The theme of this year's GLF is 'Shaping a Humane Future'.

Among prominent leaders to attend and address the World Culture Festival are former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, former Indian president Ram Nath Kovind, former president of Ecuador Rosalía Arteaga Serrano, ex-Norway prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Mongolian president Nambaryn Enkhbayar and former president of Paraguay Federico Franco, among others.