First WCO Peace Prizes for Arts and Culture Awarded to Brazilian Orcamento Participativo and Venezuelan José Abreu

World Culture Open (WCO) awarded its first WCO Award: The Peace Prize for Arts and Culture to Brazil's Orcamento Participativo for Humanitarian Service and Dr. Antonio José Abreu of Venezuela for Creative Arts on September 9th 2004 at an awards ceremony at Lincoln Center. The winners receive US$100,000 for their work promoting peace through arts and culture.

Dr. Abreu received the Creative Arts award for his work with the Venezuelan National Symphony Youth Orchestra, which has given hundreds of thousands of children of low-income families access to music and education that improves their lives. This model has inspired similar initiatives in other Latin American countries.

Orcamento Participativo received the Humanitarian Service award, as a non-profit that seeks to end the marginalization of parts of the Brazilian population.

Michael Shank, a spokesman for World Culture Open, remarked on the relationship between art and peace: "Sharing art and culture is a central pillar of the peace process. The reality is that there is more that unites us in our culture than divides us. We hope that through these awards, we can remind people that while we speak hundreds of languages around the world, we all share a universal language of art and culture."

The award winners were selected from 12 finalist nominees from around the globe, including: NYC's The Boys Choir of Harlem, Eloxochitl Ivonne M. Buendía Sánchez (Mexico), Casa Alianza (Central America), and Grupo de Teatro Catalinas Sur (Argentina).

WCO, an international non-profit organization, serves as an open environment where individuals and organizations engaged in the creative arts, holistic well-being, and humanitarian service can share, experience, and celebrate each other's cultural traditions.

For more information regarding WCO:

www.worldcultureopen.org