Naperville begins peace celebration

It's art and peace and unity and celebration.

It's Naperville's fourth annual Celebration of Peace, a season of events that includes numerous opportunities - both solitary and communal - to focus on world peace.

"We have a wonderful program planned," said Revati Natesan, founder of the Naperville-based ThinkGlobalArt Foundation, which uses arts to promote peace and understanding.

Events began Tuesday with a mayoral proclamation of the "Celebration of Peace" at the city council meeting.

The formal grand opening celebration on Friday, Sept. 10, features a performance by internationally acclaimed jazz and classical violinist Maestro L. Subramaniam at 7 p.m. at North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville.

"He's a genius on the violin," Natesan said.

Between mid-September and mid-October, area schoolchildren can submit essays, stories, poetry, music, video, art and posters in several peace-themed contests.

The Lions Club International Peace Poster exhibit is on display in the Naperville Municipal Center now through Oct. 14.

The celebration's most popular practice - "30 days and ways to practice peace" - runs Oct. 1 to Nov. 1.

Each day, there's a particular saying to follow to inspire inner peace, which in turn promotes world peace. Schools throughout the area participate as does the corporate office of RR Donnelley.

"If you don't have a car or can't come celebrate our events, people can still practice peace within themselves with thousands of people across the area," Natesan said.

The Celebration of Peace concludes Dec. 11 with the "Jazz at Christmastime" concert at Pfeiffer Hall featuring Rick DellaRatta.

In addition to the events, the foundation also has a charity called Arts for Peace that, along with corporate sponsor RR Donnelley, put together 2,400 packets that included paper and a pencil pouch containing pencils, an eraser and a box of crayons all tucked inside a binder for schoolchildren in need in Tanzania and Malawi.

For information about upcoming events, call Natesan at (630) 697-4441 or visit thinkglobalarts.org.