We Celebrated April 23 International Children’s Day
MEDIA RELEASE and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
International Children’s Day Multicultural Dance and Art Festival
16 April 2016 – City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square-Toronto
International Children’s Day-Multicultural Dance and Art Festival was celebrated in Toronto.
International Children’s Day Multicultural Dance and Art Festival was successfully celebrated at Toronto City Hall, Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday, April 16, 2016 with over 1000 guests from a variety of ethnic communities, children and families, Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Parliament, Councillors, Trustees, and national and ethnic medias. Celebrations began with a Flag Raising Ceremony as the Turkish and Canadian National anthems were being played. The Turkish Canadian community was very proud to see the Turkish flag being raised at the beginning of the festivities at Toronto City Hall. Messages emphasizing the significance of April 23rd were delivered by the Council General of Turkey in Toronto, Erdeniz Şen, Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Parliament, City Councillors and Trustees.
In addition to the Anatolian Folk Dancers of Toronto, the Windsor Turks Folk Dancers, the Chinese, the Indian, the Macedonian, the Greek, the Portuguese, the Hawaiian, the Russian and the Irish communities performed their national dances, martial art performances and shared their folk music. Children were entertained by many cultural activities like Turkish rug weaving, “Hacivat Karagoz” puppet show, wood painting, Chinese paper cutting, Falun Dafa practices, beading, Origami, games and many other activities at the Chinese, Japanese, Pilipino, Russian, Sri Lankan, Indian, Azeri, French, Greek, Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese and Turkish community tables. All these activities provided a unique environment, where children had the opportunity to interact with each other, share their cultural experiences and make friends while being exposed to the highly cultural diversity of Canada. Entertaining fun-fair activities such as inflatable clowns, face painting, magic shows, balloon sculpting, several contests and free pop-corn and cotton candy stations were also present throughout the day.
Turkish Society of Canada would like to acknowledge the City of Toronto for supporting this organization and the Government of Canada for funding this event. We would like to extend our special thanks to all of our sponsors, supporting organizations, volunteers, performing groups and to all of the members of the Turkish and Canadian communities who attended the International Children’s Day Multicultural Dance and Art Festival this year.
Event Website: https://turkishcanada.org/international-children-and-youth-day-festival/
Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/YIqnhOxlBd8
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/23AprilInternationalChildrensDay
Official announcement:
FUNDING
Funded by Government of Canada (funded in part by Inter-Action-Canada’s Multiculturalism Grants and Contributions Program).
OUR SPONSORS
2016 ALL EVENTS
Pavel Sectakof (Orthodontist), Günsan Çetin, Fred Pristine, Cenk Sayın
PLATINUM
Gizem & Tayfun Üzüm, Hira Tour
GOLD
Selim Akkurt – RBC Mortgage Specialist, Beril & Sedat Topcu – Mortgage Brokers, Süheyla Pakdil, Mavi Travel, Junction Design, Master Delight, CIBC
SILVER
Dr. Rashid Anwar, Yörük Ailesi, Cosmetica Laboratories Inc.
BRONZE
Mega Plus Group of Companies, Uluc Özgüven – Investors Group, Meral Altınada – Homelife, Sibel Yalın
Individual Sponsors
Basak Köksal- Sammy Daniel, c/o The Co-operators, Sevim Önen
MEDIA SPONSORS
Turkuaz TV, Radio Perfect, AfishaRu, Telve
PERFORMING ORGANIZATIONS
Anatolian Folk Dancers of Toronto, Johnson Dance, Lian Hua Arts Group, Macedonian Folklore Ensemble Ilinden Junior Dance Group, Windsor Turks Folk Dancers, Melissakia Greek Dance Theatre, Summit Karate School, UPICA (Uttar Pradeshies in Canada), Hawaiian Pacific Magic Dance Company, Star School Academy of Performing Art and Music, The Toronto Folklore Group of Ribatejo Portugal
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Anatolian Folk Dancers of Toronto, Turkish Canadian Cultural Association of Windsor, AJC Association for Japanese Culture, Clearview School of Arts and Culture, Korean Canadian Cultural Association, Ankara Library, Silayan Filipino Community Centre – DOI, Philippine Canadian Charitable Foundation (PCCF), Heritage4the Future, Consulate General of Sri Lanka, Alliance Française de Toronto, United Russian Diaspora of Canada, UPICA (Uttar Pradeshies in Canada), Vietnam, Azerbaijan