|
Culture of Peace
Activities
 |
|
SGI members presenting the Earth Charter's ideals in a skit (SGI-USA Friendship Center) |
SGI-USA's culture department joined with the Pacific Los Angeles Chapter of the UN Association of the U.S.A. to celebrate United Nations Day on October 24 at the SGI-USA Friendship Center in Santa Monica, California. SGI-USA's input, entitled "Earth Charter: Building Common Ground," included presentations, performances and an innovative "World Cafe" format for small-group dialogue, all focused on what it means to "Respect Earth and life in all its
diversity"--the first principle of the Earth Charter.
On October 23 at the SGI-USA World Culture Center in Santa Monica, the SGI-USA American Victory Orchestra commemorated UN Day with a multicultural concert that included classical music, jazz arrangements and traditional African dances.
SGI-USA's exhibition, "Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World," a testimony to the potential of ordinary individuals to contribute to peace, has been shown at numerous venues across the U.S.A. The showing at the SGI-USA New York Culture Center coincided with "Living a Culture of Peace Week," from September 18 to 26, which featured over 50 events including community festivals, concerts, interfaith dialogues, spoken word events and film showings. Participating organizations included SGI-USA, the Turkish American Multicultural Educational Foundation, The Renaissance Charter School and the Rumí Center.
In Los Angeles, SGI-USA Korean language group members participated for the sixth consecutive year in the annual Los Angeles Korean Festival, held at Seoul International Park in Los Angeles from September 16-19 with 200,000 attendees. In addition to staffing a booth with literature on the SGI's activities, SGI-USA members joined an orchestral performance and served on the volunteer cleanup crew.
|
