Colors of the Wold at the White House, The Ellipse

April 26, Washington, D.C. – As part of the International Festival Language and Culture, ‘Colors of the World’ took place at the White House Presidents’ Park, the Ellipse between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. More than 1000 guests came to see over 100 young performers from over 15 countries. The weather turned out to be much better than forecasted, which allowed the attendees to enjoy this outdoors event even more.
President of Rumi Forum, which is the co-organizer of the IFLC in Washington D.C., along with Turkic American Alliance, Emre Çelik, gave a welcoming speech before the performances started. While celebrating the 14th year of the International Language and Culture Festival, Mr. Çelik urged everyone to “reflect upon the importance of increasing our understanding of people of all backgrounds and showing due respect to the difference and diversity that exists.” He also observed that “It is the beauty in difference that allows the mosaic of our humanity to shine and prosper…”
The performances commenced as the participants from Albania took the stage.Throughout the event, youth from Thailand, France, Texas, Washington DC, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Serbia, Tunisia, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and India took the stage to showcase their talents and their cultural heritage. At one point, participants from Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia and Albania took the stage and sang Heal the World all together, with other participants on the stage as well. The event concluded with a final performance of the song Universal Peace from all of the participants together.