ART: THE INSTIGATOR OF CULTURAL INTEGRATION
A successful
beginning to the year for Caspian Arts Foundation; they held their inaugural
panel discussion on the 23rd January at Sotheby’s, London with a
notably distinguished panel including Dr Anthony Downey, Director
of the Master’s Programme in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art;
Mark Dunhill, Dean of Art at Central St Martins UAL; Dr Alireza Nourizadeh, Director
of the Centre of Arab and Iranian Studies; Omar Al Qattan, founder of The
Qattan Foundation & The Mosaic Room and Dr Menis Yousry, founder and lead
facilitator of the Essence Foundation. Issues discussed ranged from the
political to the psychological and environmental. They all contributed to an
eloquent and provocative discussion about the relationship between art and
cultural integration, human expression and emotions, the importance of the
teacher–pupil relationship; each putting a unique intellectual spin on their
thought provoking points.
A poised and
elegant introduction was given by Alia Al Senussi, a key CAF committee member
and a champion supporter of the Middle Eastern Art world. Ensuring a
charismatic energy and audience of 80 people that attended, some shared
interesting points and experiences which coaxed the panellists to delve further
into the discussion and raise new points that provided food for thought.
Caspian Arts
Foundation was founded in 2011 by Nina Mahdavi, who is a keen supporter of
creating homogeneity between and amongst cultures. She founded the charity not
only to assist aspiring artists from the MENA region to realise their dreams by
completing an MA in fine art, film, photography or fashion, but also to create
an organisation that welcomes and recognises all cultures within the region,
and so actively taking part in the movement to redefine what is known by ‘The
Middle East’.
For more information take a look
at their website www.caspianartsfoundation.com,
or visit their Facebook or Twitter page. For all press related information and
queries email fiona@caspianartsfoundation.com.
All images copyright of Caspian Arts Foundation ǀ All rights reserved ǀ
For any press related enquiries please call +44 (0) 20 7832 1359 or email fiona@caspianartsfoundation.com
