VANCOUVER – The Lower Mainland arts community is preparing to celebrate the four-day visit of the Dalai Lama, who arrives in Vancouver this Saturday
The spiritual and political leader of Tibet will be joined by two other Nobel Laureates during his stay.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi will join the Dalai Lama in a roundtable dialogue on education.
About 30,000 tickets to several appearances by the Dalai Lama were sold out in two days.
Ruth Payne, the director of a coalition established for the visit, says the city’s artists will be providing a series of events during the Dalai Lama’s time in B.C.
She says the spiritual leader of Tibet represents qualities that resonate with Vancouver’s arts community. “He’s really an icon for peace, for compassion, universal responsibility, non-violence,” she says.
“What we wanted to be able to do was use the arts and the cultural venues of Vancouver, and businesses, different organizations, bookstores, cafes, to put that message across.”
Professional artists aren’t the only ones who are making their mark for the occasion.
School children throughout the city have been busy making Tibetan-style prayer flags during the past few weeks.
The students’ flags will be flying during a procession the public is invited to participate in at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology on Saturday – the day the Dalai Lama arrives in the city.
