Culture & Education | Tuesday 16 April, 2019 2:30 am |

As part of its mission to discover and develop artistic talents and provide a nurturing platform for aspirants in the creative fields, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), has announced the launch of the 2nd edition of its Dubai Festival for School Theatre. The five-day event will run from 21st April to 25th April 2019, at Dubai Cultural & Scientific Association Auditorium at morning time

Last year, Dubai Culture sponsored the Festival, while this year the Authority has adopted it, in terms of organising and sponsoring, in order to achieve the strategic objectives in leveraging the artistic awareness and facilitating the artistic talent. The main aim of the Festival is to increase the participation from schools across the Emirate of Dubai and promote the performing arts sector, facilitating an innovative culture and elevating the taste of young generation in this particular field of art.

This year the total number of participation has more than tripled from the last edition, reaching a total of 13 boys and girls government schools, where in students will compete at all educational stages, including elementary, intermediate, and secondary.

Saeed Al Nabouda, Acting Director General at Dubai Culture, said, “This Festival is a strong pillar that supports our mission of discovering and developing local talents and contributes to promote the school theatre activities in Dubai. It also works for leveraging the artistic capabilities of the students and instructors in the government schools. At Dubai Culture, we have always been keen on enhancing this particular field of art and working with our strategic partners to help the talent to polish their skills and become capable of participating in the performing art festivals in the Emirate, the region and globally, in the line with our aim of supporting the local talent and promoting them to participate at the international levels in this field.”

“This Festival is part of our continuous efforts to strengthen the creative industries and position Dubai as a major cultural venue and an important destination globally, by empowering the cultural, heritage, arts, and literature sectors. We hope that such events will help promote the cultural tourism in Dubai and enable us to diversify the economy, and inculcate other positive effects, especially the promotion of social cohesion," Al Nabouda concluded.

Dubai School Theatre Festival highlights the creativity of students in government schools, in the field of performing arts, and helps them to identify their talents and potentials, thereby encouraging them to participate in other national and international festivals. The Festival targets to promote national identity and educational values among the future generation.

As experts in the field are part of the Festival at all levels, from preparation stage to judging, it is sure to enhance the overall experience of participating schools, in terms of theatrical activity and festivals. This Festival is also an opportunity to enrich the chemistry between schools, by enabling experience and knowledge exchange and floating the idea of establishing theatre clubs, making it possible for aspiring performing artists to build their self-confidence.

The Festival allows supervising and teaching staff to practically take the methodological materials out of the books and transform them into dramatic and visual formulations, instilling Islamic values, traditions of the Arab world, and the emotional, intellectual, and psychological benefits of performing arts in the spirit of national identity.

For a fair evaluation and enriched experience, Dubai Culture has established a committee of activists, consisting of Hany Eltombary and  Cindrella Abdelhamied, who will work during the months of March and April, to evaluate the participants and decide upon the judgment standards and mechanisms.

The winners of the Festival will be awarded with over 60 awards for all three levels The jury of the second session will be led by Mohammed Al Ameri, Walid Rashid Al Zaabi, Samira Ahmed, Mohammad Haji, and Mohammed Saeed Al Salati.

Dubai Culture has put in place conditions and mechanisms for enriching the Festival, including, requiring the text of the play in classical Arabic, not more than 15-30 minutes of duration, and one that has not been presented in any other local competitions, along with other educational and artistic conditions within the framework of the community’s values and traditions. The jury also requires the subject of the plays to be directed to school students, and played ‘live’ without any playback system.

Dubai Culture aims to enhance Dubai’s cultural scene and draw attention to the UAE’s rich heritage. The Authority’s mandate is to build bridges of constructive dialogue between different civilisations and cultures to enhance Dubai's position as a creative and sustainable global city for culture, heritage, arts, and literature, with the aim to empower these sectors by developing creative and innovative projects and initiatives locally, regionally, and globally.