Anjani Hodgkins, a fifth grader at the elementary school, will be performing Indian classical dance at the Fesitival of Cultures in March with fellow dancers from Triveni School of Dance in Brookline. (Courtesy photo)

Harvard Elementary School students and their parents will have the chance to travel the world in two hours Friday, March 14, during the PTO’s first-ever Festival of Cultures, to be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the elementary school gym.

PTO organizers for the event include Deb Barton, chairwoman, Belinda Friedrich, publicist, Naomi Yano, and Devika Kommineni.

Friedrich said this free family event will highlight direct immigrants and first-generation immigrants in a celebration of cultures. Sixteen countries will be featured from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in table displays in the gym, she said, each with ambassador families who have actually had living experience in the countries they represent. Visitors to each of the tables will have mock passports to use, to chart their “trip around the world.” Displays will include photographs, artifacts, crafts, and information about food and dress from the countries represented.

More than 50 elementary school students will be participating in the festival, which will continue with cultural performances from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., including Indian, Chinese, and Irish dance, French and Japanese music, and a puppet show starring hand-crafted puppets from the Czech Republic.

The festival has been in the planning stages since last fall, said Friedrich, inspired by the awareness of such events in other communities, and by concern about maintaining an awareness of cultural diversity.

“People come in all faces, sizes, and religions,” said Friedrich. “Our town has a broad international community.”

Barton said the purpose of the event is “to welcome and provide a source of pride in diversity, and to broaden exposure of all who live in Harvard to the rich diversity in town.”