35-day World Culture Festival begins at Arts Council today

The 35-day-long World Culture Festival having cultural representation and performances from all regions of Pakistan and some 40 countries across the globe is set to start at the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP), Karachi today (Thursday).

A press conference was held at the ACP’s Haseena Moin Hall on Wednesday afternoon where the festival’s schedule was also released.

The press conference was addressed by ACP President Muhammad Ahmed Shah, Secretary Ejaz Farooqi and satirist Anwar Maqsood. Sindh Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah also graced the occasion along with cultural groups from Nepal and Kosovo. Ahmed Shah stated that the World Culture Festival Karachi would begin on Thursday with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over the inaugural ceremony.

The 35-day festival would end on October 30.

The ACP president mentioned that various international groups would conduct workshops with students from the University of Karachi and other universities.

The festival will feature 40 theatre performances, 55 music performances, 50 dance performances, 20 workshops, 10 talks, and five fine art exhibitions along with the traditional folk performance from Gilgit, Kashmir, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh.

"We are the inheritors of three civilizations, and the festival will include theatre performances in Urdu, Sindhi, English, and various other languages," the ACP president explained.

He revealed that artistes from 40 countries would participate in the festival, including Palestine, Türkiye, India, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Australia, Russia, Egypt, Iraq, South Africa, Italy, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Norway, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, Ukraine, Oman, Qatar, Malta, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Scotland, Hungary, France, Uganda, Belarus, Ireland, Kosovo, Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Algeria and Switzerland.

A total of 450 artistes from Pakistan and across the world would perform during the festival, the press conference was told.

Along with theatre, music and dance performances, the festival would also feature fine arts exhibitions.

Maqsood remarked that all knew what was happening in Islamabad, Balochistan and Punjab. Sindh was the only province where a cultural festival was being held, he added.

At a time when people were leaving the country, it was wonderful to see 40 countries coming to Karachi, he said.

The Sindh culture minister noted that the festival would present Pakistan’s positive image. "Our relationship with foreign countries is going to strengthen further. The Sindh government is fully supporting the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi," he added.

It was said that the ACP had also organised a literary festival in Quetta, which brought about a change throughout Balochistan.

The Sindh government had been ensuring all security measures for the event, the minister said.

The ACP secretary said a festival of that magnitude had never been held in Pakistan before.

Geo and Jang group are the media partners of the ACP in the World Culture Festival. Tickets for the event can be easily obtained from the ACP and Ticketwala service.