Saraswati Day International Festival: A Celebration of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Event Date: 
Friday, November 27, 2015 - 7:30am to 9:30am
RSVP Required
Free Event
Arts & Culture
Cost:
Included Items: 
cultural activities

Banjar Bali USABASAbali.orgBASAbali Wiki, the ARMA Museum, and the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C. are pleased to announce an international festival to honor Saraswati Day (the Balinese day of wisdom, knowledge, and culture) in celebration of Bali’s unique language, Indonesia’s rich linguistic diversity, and all of the worlds' languages.  The festival will take place in Bali, Washington, DC, and several other countries at the same time, November 27, 2015 at 7:30 am EST - 9:30 am EST (Black Friday).

The DC portion of the event will take at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC. Simultaneously, events will be held in, and simulcast from, the ARMA Museum in Bali and the Indonesian Embassies and Consulates in Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Australia, and New York.  Streaming will be live at http://livestream.com/livestreamasia/events/4506413 

The program includes:

  • Balinese traditional dance and gamelan (live and simulcast)

  • Reading of a Balinese poem by Balinese living in Bali, Washington, DC, New York, Belgium, Germany, Tokyo, Sweden, Netherlands, and Australia, read in host country languages (live and simulcast)

  • Greetings from Indonesian Ambassadors from the participating countries (simulcast)

  • Introduction by Prof. Gabriela Perez Baez, Director of Recovering Voices, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (live in DC)

  • Balinese language poetry contest with Nala Antara, Udayana University, BASAbali Wiki, and Badan Bahasa (simulcast)

  • Essence of Saraswati Day - Prof. Ron Jenkins of Wesleyan University (live in DC)

  • Saraswati art - Agung Rai, founder of the ARMA Museum (live in DC)

Please RSVP at SARASWATI2015.EVENTBRITE.COM (Event is free, with thanks to the sponsors)

Donation of any size much appreciated on our crowdsourcing campaign:http://bit.ly/1NGbaUW!

Dress: Batik or casual.