2008 World Festival of Sacred Music – Los Angeles

September 20 to October 4 -- 2008

1,000 artists perform in Los Angeles’ largest and most diverse citywide festival with forty sacred events of music and movement – crossing neighborhoods, cultural, religious and ideological boundaries in the spirit of world peace

With the success of the 1999, 2002 and 2005 World Festivals of Sacred Music – Los Angeles, a powerful coalition of arts, faith, cultural, community, and environmental groups are announcing that the fourth citywide event will take place in September 20 to October 4, 2008.

The fifteen-day, 40 event multidisciplinary Festival will share music and movement in places large and small, sacred and secular, public and private -- crossing neighborhoods, cultural, religious, and ideological boundaries. Through music each person in the audience can expand their definition of who they are as members of this city, go beyond the familiar, and explore the potential of intercultural and interfaith collaboration.

Artists, organizers, and the audience realize the community-building intention of the Festival through their participation.

The World Festival of Sacred Music—Los Angeles is made possible through the shared commitment of its Festival partners, which produces this event by contributing in-kind assistance and volunteer time. In 1999, 2002 and 2005 this non-commercial, community oriented, citywide Festival had a combined estimated attendance of 120,000 people, and is the area’s largest and most diverse festival. With the fourth 2008 WFSM-LA the Festival establishes itself as an on-going part of the cultural life of this community.

The Festival is currently reaching out to the community, as it has for the previous Festivals, for participants – performers, venues, presenters, and volunteers. Applications are due January 4, 2008.

On December 3, 5, and 6 there will be three community meetings where all interested in the Festival can learn about the application process; this is also a gathering of fellow artists, presenters, and staff to kick off the Festival.

www.festivalofsacredmusic.org or call 310-825-0507.

The World Festival of Sacred Music-Los Angeles is a project of Foundation for World Arts, EarthWays Foundation and UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance. The 2008 WFSM-LA is funded in part by The James Irvine Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

About the 2008 World Festival of Sacred Music – Los Angeles

Working under a broad definition of “sacred,” the Festival is founded on the belief that sacred music has the ability to bring forth our shared human values of peace, understanding, and respect for all living things. Offering an alternative, community-oriented model to the corporate values that dominate the entertainment culture of Los Angeles, the Festival provides opportunities for people to come together and investigate issues of tolerance and diversity within our complex, urban environment.

As Festival director Judy Mitoma said, “Through music, each person in the audience can expand their definition of who they are as members of this city, go beyond the familiar, and explore the potential of intercultural and interfaith collaboration.”

The first Festival was initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1999 to mark the millennium with a message of peace, cultural understanding, and spirituality: the goal was to present the Festival on four continents.

“As in 2005,” Mitoma said, “we are continually trying to build performances that encourage collaboration between artists who normally work independently. We seek to highlight artists from around the world, as well as provide meaningful contexts for local artists who work tirelessly in our own city. We are building the forty events in the Festival – and our goal is for many to be an invitation for seemingly unconventional partnerships between religious and arts organizations, professional artists and community performers, and traditionalists and experimental artists to encourage community building that transcends borders.”