2010 4th Children's Festival of Russian Culture - The Russian American Cultural Heritage Center

We are proud to report that the Fourth Children’s Festival of Russian Culture that took place on June 5, 2010 in Manhattan was a great success!

As in previous years, our focus was on children performing for children. Groups of amateur performers and guests – mostly families with children – gathered in Tryon Park. Over the years the Children’s Festival has been constantly improving, and has become both a tradition and an eagerly awaited annual event. We were very happy to see families who had previously attended the festival greeting each other like old friends, and to see children and parents meeting new friends. There was a very real feeling of community on the green Cloister lawn this year.

The young dancers and singers – many of them wearing beautiful national Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian costumes – performed traditional folk pieces, as well as popular songs from the era of World War II. The audience was utterly delighted by the “Cranes” group of 40 dancers, whose brilliant and virtually professional performance won the hearts of all the attendees.

The Honorable Andrey Yushmanov, the Consul General of the Russian Federation joined Dr. Olga Zatsepina, President of RACH-C in opening the festival. The distinguished guests included the Most Reverend Justinian, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA; Ms. Ludmila Kuzina, a representative of the Moscow City Government, Mr. Adriano Espaillat, member of the New York State Assembly and others.

Major sponsors of the Festival were: the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, the General Consulate of the Russian Federation in New York and the International Council of Russian Compatriots.