Festival of Muslim Cultures: UK 2006
Festival of Muslim Cultures | UK 2006 Print Project | news and press releases | 12/01/06
News and Press Releases
Wales Leads the Way to a Better Understanding.
Early event in the UK Festival of Muslim Culture opens in Swansea 12th January 2006
An exhibition of work by contemporary Pakistani printmakers opens at Oriel Ceri Richards in Swansea’s Taliesin Arts Centre on 14th January 2006. The exhibition, one of the very first events taking place in the UK wide Festival of Muslim Cultures, will be opened by Andrew Davies AM, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Economic Development.
Contemporary Pakistani Printmakers runs from 14th January until 4th February 2006. The exhibition, which is supported by a tri-lingual catalogue in English, Welsh and Urdu, will then tour to The Vale of Glamorgan and Lancaster.
The exhibition forms part of a wider programme of activities planned for 2006, including an 'artists in residence' scheme and series of workshops.
The Festival of Muslim Culture is a year-long celebration of arts, humanities, education and discourse that seeks to foster an improved understanding and appreciation for Muslim culture. Major events and exhibitions have been organised across the United Kingdom in which moderate Muslim voices can be heard, and negative stereotypes challenged. The project was conceived in 2002 and its patron appointed, HRH Prince of Wales. A vast programme of events has been developing since then, inspired by the belief that the arts can play a role in changing society for the better by enabling people to enter into the experiences of others.
Under the Festival banner, Swansea Print Workshop has established a powerful and unique partnership with printmakers from Pakistan, who have been invited to share their work with communities across the country. Alongside this, organisers have planned a dynamic programme of activities, which will introduce new cultural dimensions into the lives of young people, their teachers, community groups and professional artists in South Wales, thus having a profound and lasting impact on those involved.
The Festival of Muslim Cultures Print Project is divided into two parts; part one, is based in the UK and part two in Pakistan, which will follow once funding has been secured.
As well as the aforementioned exhibition, the Swansea based project will host two artists in residence from Pakistan at Swansea Print Workshop for a period of 12 weeks. The artists, alongside a specially appointed outreach team, will lead a diverse programme of printmaking workshops for school children and older students, plus a lecture programme, master-class opportunities and workshops for community groups based on the theme of Image, Symbol and Text.
A selection of prints created throughout the programme will feature in a summer exhibition also at Oriel Ceri Richards, Swansea to coincide with the National Eisteddfod of Wales, prior to an exhibition tour of Pakistan, subject to funding.
The project in Pakistan will mirror the UK programme thereby opening up further opportunities for artist exchange, workshops and exhibitions.
The projected has been applauded by local politicians. Cllr David Phillips, a city-centre councillor welcomed the initiative. Cllr Phillips, who is also the Leader of the Labour Group on the city council, said, “It is Swansea’s rich cultural diversity that makes living here such a pleasure and we should celebrate that at every opportunity. I am very pleased that Swansea is yet again leading the way. This initiative by Swansea Print Workshop and Taliesin Arts Centre is most timely and welcome”. He continued, “I represent a large multi-ethnic ward, with a significant Muslim population ... If we are to create successful vibrant communities, we have an obligation to oppose negative stereotyping, and one of the ways to do that is to improve our understanding, appreciation and tolerance of each others cultures – and contemporary culture is as important as the traditional.”
The Festival of Muslim Cultures is a celebration of the rich cultural and artistic expressions of Muslim peoples: advancing understanding, promoting respect and facilitating interconnectedness.
The festival will place the United Kingdom at the cultural centre of the Muslim World. Over 120 cultural, educational and youth organisations are now participating in a 15-month long celebration which will bring Muslim cultures into the mainstream of British life. Through programmes of Muslim art, architecture, poetry, fashion, film, literature, music, gardens, performance, design, food, discourse and thought, designed to appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds, the Festival is promoting a balanced understanding of the diversity and humanity of the Muslim world.
The background for this series of events is the profound and damaging lack of understanding of Muslim cultures in the West. That vacuum is being filled almost exclusively by negative media reporting of current conflicts in the Muslim world, breeding a climate of fear and hostility towards Muslims. One of the consequences is that young Muslims in the West are being increasingly alienated from the societies in which they live. The Festival of Muslim Cultures, a celebration that places contemporary and traditional Muslim Cultures centre stage in the UK, is a non-political and non-sectarian event that involves some of the country’s major cultural institutions and, as importantly, aims to include as many as possible of Britain’s Muslims, with their non-Muslim peers, in diverse cultural celebrations.
For further information on the Swansea project, interviews or photograph opportunities please contact Stella Patrick on 01792 60 24 29.
Cllr David Phillips is available to answer questions on 07779 129803
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