Culture

An essential part of our mission is to advocate and preserve cultural diversity. In an effort to do so, we saw the idea of a cultural festival http://scfcusa.org as a great means to reach our goal and extend our message.

On March 31st, 2007, the Slavic Foundation, which developed from the Slavic Cultural Festival Committee (SCFC) of the George Washington University, conducted the first annual Slavic Spring Festival in Washington, D.C. The event took place at University Yard of the George Washington University, located in the heart of the US capital, a mere two blocks away from the President´s official residence, the White House. The festival, which was a celebration of Slavic culture and history, and a meeting of Slavic representatives and officials, was unprecedented in scope. Over five thousand people were cordially invited to partake in a day of traditional cuisine, dance, and folk music for the purpose of experiencing the richness and diversity of Slavic culture.

Initially, the festival concept envisioned an informal gathering for Slavic students and their respective embassies. However, due to the enthusiasm and diligence of the organizing committee and embassy officials, the size of the guest list as well as the size of the event far exceeded everyone´s modest expectations.

The festival was aimed at reaching unity through diversity; it was a large undertaking combining the participation and input of the embassies of Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Ambassadors of all the participating nations as well as prominent politicians from all corners of the Slavic world officially opened the event with the commencing ceremony, sharing their unique national perspectives and highlighting their historical heritage. Local and foreign mass media covered the event, translating news reports to their home countries, bringing attention to the various activities taking place, including cultural workshops, wide range of food stalls providing rich Slavic foods, and the feature performance of the Ukrainian pop-diva, Ruslana!