The Kids Euro Festival
Washington DC, October 14 - November 10, 2011
Over 200 free performances - puppet shows, magic, cinema, music, workshops!

Kids Euro Festival, the largest performing arts festival of its kind in the United States, once again brings together the European Union (EU) community to transform metro-Washington into a European adventure for children and their families. For the fourth year in a row, from October 14 through November 10, Kids Euro Festival will present more than 200 free events in and around the District.

Talented European entertainers for children converge on Washington for Kids Euro Festival, providing a cultural bridge and offering an opportunity for artistic exploration, with no passport required. Puppetry, dance, music, theater, storytelling, and more are all part of the live magic of Kids Euro Festival.

Screenings of European children’s films and reading workshops presenting favorite European children’s stories round out four weeks of diverse and imaginative cultural journeys.

Designed for children aged two through twelve, Kids Euro Festival is again being staged through the cooperation of the 27 EU embassies in Washington and more than twenty major local cultural institutions. This year, Poland holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, and will play a major role in the Kids Euro Festival project.

For a second year, Kids Euro Festival will partner with the DC Public Library system. Workshops featuring stories and activities will be presented at each of the 25 DC Public Library branches. Similar workshops will take place at the Library of Congress, the National Children’s Museum, and several Prince Georges County Library branches.

The free public performances will take place at family-friendly Washington venues, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Millennium Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Strathmore, National Geographic Live, THEARC, Imagination Stage, Smithsonian’s Discovery Theatre, the Library of Congress, National Children’s Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, DC Public Library, The Washington Ballet, Artisphere, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Atlas Performing Arts Center, Dance Place, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, Publick Playhouse, John Addison Concert Hall, The Goethe-Institut, House of Sweden, The Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, and La Maison Française.

Some performances require reservations, which can be made at the Kids Euro Festival website: www.kidseurofestival.org. A schedule of performances will be available online later this month.

Along with the public performances, Kids Euro Festival will bring presentations and performances to hospitals, such as Children’s National Medical Center and the Children’s Inn at NIH, as well as to public and private schools. A special day is planned for differently-abled children.

Participating in Kids Euro Festival are the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

In addition to the venues and embassies listed above, Kids Euro Festival is also presented in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates, Washington Performing Arts Society, The Avalon Theater, DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, DC Public Schools, Arlington County Schools, Prince George’s County Schools, and The French-American Cultural Foundation.

For information on specific performances and schedules, contact (202) 944-6558 or visit www.kidseurofestival.org.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KidsEuroFestival