Dear friends,
I’m writing to tell you about our new challenge:   EXPO 2015
As you know Italy, more precisely Milan, is going to host the International Exposition in 2015.  The special areas of interest of this Expo are: food, the environment and intercultural exchange.  Everyone is invited to take part  to ensure that we can  pass on to future generations  the quality of life to which we all aspire now
With the help of our partners, we have decided to join this great event.  Our theme and mission are very much in line with those of  Expo 2015 and this  has inspired us  to increase our  efforts to make this an opportunity to re-define our aims and take a significant leap  up to a new level.
Our Festival isn’t only about art and sport, which are two fundamental instruments in the education of young people.  More importantly, it encourages  people of different nationalities and from different cultures to meet each other and consequently  improve mutual understanding.  We believe this is a basic element in building a more united world, so that we are all  ready to face the difficult challenges the future holds.
For this reason, we have decided to present our Vivas Project -   living life through the values of art and sport -  to Expo 2015, the European Community, our local institutions and to all of you for  comments and support.  If this  doesn’t happen, it won’t mean giving up.  It will simply mean carrying on with our project in a more basic form which is  more suited to the resources we have available.
As you well know, every new  undertaking requires careful planning and evaluation before  it is ready to be launched.  So,  this summer, we are going to  start our preparations by trying out  various new organisational details and systems that we will improve  our project.  During the six months of the Expo, we aim to give people from different cultures of the world the chance to get to know  each other.  By doing this, we hope  to offer a varied programme of cultural events  and to confirm our belief that progress can’t happen without the encouragement of  mutual understanding and respect  for other cultures  as well as  for the social and environmental contexts in which we all  live.
We firmly believe that our youngsters are the best people to perform this important role.
We’ll put details of our proposed Project 2015 on our web-site www.vivasworld.org by the middle of February 2010.  We are very keen  to hear your comments, suggestions and ideas, too.
In the meantime, we are looking  forward to meeting you in Italy in the summer  of 2010 and we’d like to take this opportunity of wishing you all the very best for the  new year,  and  carry on doing the  great work that you’re all involved in!

Carlo Devoti