 Chicago Games Inc. organized a successful outreach program which enabled 120 scholarship athletes from South Africa, Croatia, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America to attend the games.40,000 people attended the ceremony which took place in Chicago's Soldier Field on July 15, 2006.The concept for Opening Ceremony, conceived and directed by Kile Ozier, was to tell the parallel stories of the evolution of the GLBT Community as a community and as individuals; giving it a global context and relevance.