On November 14th there's something for everyone at FCC-DV's second annual event honoring Adoption Awareness Month! Adoption Brings the World Together: A Celebration of Cultural Diversity aims to raise the social consciousness regarding adoption by conveying that bonds of love are every bit as real as bonds of blood, and to promote tolerance and respect for the world's many cultures. Indeed, the beauty of all human connection is reflected in the tapestry that is our world! 

Click here to read about the inspiration for our event! 

"Why Celebrate Diversity?" by Barbara Keane, Ph.D. 

Share our excitement in the Pennsylvania Senate passing a resolution proclaiming November 14th as "Adoption Brings the World Together Day!" Read Senator Joe Conti's press release here; see the resolution here!

FCC-DV is honored to welcome adult adoptee Alison Larkin! Ms. Larkin will perform her acclaimed one-woman autobiographical show, The English American, following our international buffet luncheon! 

We are also privileged to open the day's events with an address from Victoria Rowell, founder of The Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan and daytime television star!   

Children will be entertained by  storyteller Lisa Facciponti with engaging tales from around the world . . .

. . . and by folksinger Daria, who has traveled around the world performing, studying, and collecting music!

We'll wrap up the day with a family concert by folklorist, musician, and storyteller Kala Jo Jo, whose songs, chants, and stories celebrate life!

In addition, the day will include a delicious international buffet luncheon...arts & crafts for the kids...and wonderful entertainment by various children's groups, introduced by NBC10's Aditi Roy.

Performers include the Fitzpatrick Irish Dancers; the Dance Arts Collaborative Jazz Company; the Red Phoenix Chinese American School, featuring acclaimed Chinese dancer Ya-Chih Chuang (see below!); the School of the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble; and, under the direction of Dr. Tatiana Kudrjavcev, students of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet!

Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet (left) Dance Arts Collaborative Jazz Company (center & right)

Don't miss shopping with several vendors including Celebrate the Child, One Thousand Villages, Alphabet Soup Books, Green Gecko Trading, Glen-to-Glen Celtic, Silpada, Our Chinese Daughters Foundation, and more!

Ya-Chih Chuang, who will dance with the Red Phoenix Chinese American School dancers, was born in Taiwan, where she was an instructor with the Taipei Folk Dance Company. She graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, majored in Chinese dance, and was a winner of the Contemporary Dance Lecturer Award in Hong Kong. She worked with Nai Ni Chen Dance Company and several choreographers in New York City. Ya-Chih has performed in the Netherlands, France, Poland, Korea, China, Canada, and the United States. During the 2000 Millennium Celebration, she was the solo dancer to represent Asia, and worked with The Parsons Dance Company in Times Square.