Dubai: Emirates Foundation for Literature, the organizers behind the region’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature have added the Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCY) as a key sponsor for the high-profile event.
The Ministry’s association with the event, currently scheduled to take place from the 3rd of February to the 13th in Dubai, is part of its efforts to support cultural, artistic and heritage institutions in the country, in line with its strategy to enrich the literary movement to promote intellectual stimulation in society.
MCY will focus on the creative economy and the role of art and culture in enriching the state’s sustainable growth. The Ministry will engage in a series of interactive sessions targeted on the importance of the creative economy and how the cultural and creative industries, one of the most promising sectors of growth, will impact the economy in the future.
The Ministry’s sessions will focus on promoting and developing the Arabic language to assert the importance of the Arabic language as central to the Emirati identity.
Our participation and sponsorship of the festival stems from the ministry’s commitment to encourage talent in various creative fields. It is our constant endeavor to promote dialogue between different cultures to enrich the cultural and social fabric of our society. We seek to build a knowledge-based economy within the framework of sustainable development goals by supporting cultural and creative initiatives in partnership with national and international cultural and artistic institutions. –Mr. Mubarak Al Nakhi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Youth, remarked about the association.
Meanwhile, Ms. Isobel Abulhoul, CEO of Emirates Literature Foundation, confirmed that their strategic partnership with the Ministry greatly improves the festival program, as it is based on the diverse and rich dialogues offered by some of the most important and bright names in the world of literature, art and culture.
We look forward to strengthening partnerships with the ministry and continue to work closely with it in the future. Our partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Youth will strengthen the country’s cultural fabric and enhance the contribution of the cultural sector to sustainable development in line with the visionary leadership’s strategy for the next 50 years. –The Emirates Literature Foundation CEO observed.
In her opening speech, Ms. Waheeda Al Hadhrami, Head of Partnerships and Promotions Programs for Cultural and Creative Industries Section, Cultural and Creative Industries Sector at the Ministry of Culture and Youth, spoke about the Creative Economy and opened the floor for specialists from the fields of music, visual arts, and literature, to discuss the interdependence of various arts and their contribution to shaping and driving the economy.
The Ministry Official emphasized the role of the creative economy as a key driver for sustainable growth and also shed light on the role of the UAE national strategy for cultural and creative industries to further the agenda.
MCY is sponsoring the Arabic language session at the festival to discuss how Arabic language is adapting to the current changes in lifestyle and cultural influences. The session will also discuss how Arabic can be used more effectively in the field of scientific and technological research.
It will also discuss translation of Arabic into various international languages to encourage more extensive cultural exchange between different communities. These topics are in continuation of the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Youth in promoting the Arabic language.
The Ministry had recently published the Status of the Arabic Language Report and announced its key findings and recommendations at the opening of the Arabic Language Summit held in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will also host a session dedicated to The World Poetry Tree, a digital poetry anthropology launched by the Ministry of Culture and Youth. The global anthology of poems features works of more than 360 leading poets from around the world, who present their poems of hope, love and peace to the world in a post-pandemic world.