Bellevue festival to celebrate diversity

Lifestyles : Friday, June 12, 1998
Seattle Times staff

A festival to explore cultures through music and dance, Race Unity Day, will take place tomorrow in Bellevue's Factoria Mall.

Catherine Craver, event coordinator with the Baha'i Faith Church, said the event is also intended to give families a chance to spend time together, a chance to "recognize family unity."

Co-sponsors are the Puget Sound Baha'i Communities, the mall and Bellevue Parks and Community Services' Cultural Diversity Program. Each year, the Baha'i Faith Church sponsors similar events in June throughout the country.

The 11 a.m.-to-4 p.m. event will include an entertainment stage, community-resource tables, arts and craft booths, face painting and a cartoonist.

Diversity Dance Workshop, a volunteer international dance troupe, will portray messages of racial equality and understanding.

Kevin Henry, cultural-diversity coordinator for the city of Bellevue, said such events can help make people more aware of other cultures and perhaps ease racial tensions. "Things are happening that need to be talked about," he said.

Craver said she thinks the key to eliminating prejudice "is to reach out to children and provide a practical service to the community."

Here is a schedule of free performances:

-- 11 a.m., Animal Crackers; one-woman vocal and instrumental performance.

-- 11:50 a.m., Midori Kono Thiel; Japanese dance and instrumental performance.

-- 12:40 p.m, Terra Cantus; interactive children's musical program with aboriginal Australian, Native American and African instruments.

-- 1:20 p.m., Crossroads Youth Theater; local actors will perform "Everyone," an original play about young people's view of the world.

-- 2:10 p.m., Terra Cantus.

-- 3 p.m., Diversity Dance Workshop, informal musical dance.

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