JEDDAH, 2 November 2003 — Under a program named “Very Special Arts” (VSA), the board of trustees of the Help Center yesterday opened a mobile exhibition of artists with special needs at Nassif House in Balad. The exhibition is entitled “Our Ancestors” and sponsored by Sheikh Abdul Maqsoud Khojah.
The Help Center is a private charity for mentally handicapped children up to the age of 18. “This exhibition features works by handicapped artists from the whole Arab region, but the Help Center is the only organization where handicapped children participated as well,” Reem Gazzaz, the center’s public relations manager, told Arab News.
In an attempt to involve people with special needs in the Arab world and to strengthen relations between offices representing VSA arts, VSA Saudi Arabia has devised a mobile arts project. It asked each representing office to commission specialized centers in their countries to create paintings under the general theme “Our Ancestors.”
The paintings will be shown in several cities in the Kingdom including Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh, Abha and Taif. Other countries participating are Jordan, Kuwait, the UAE and Egypt.
The pan-Arab regional exhibition is scheduled to expand over nine months. In Jeddah, the exhibit will run at Nassif House until Nov. 7, followed by the Saudi Art Center Gallery from Nov. 10-14, Heraa International Market from Nov. 17-22 and finally at King Abdul Aziz Airport, Saudia Departure Terminal, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.
VSA arts-KSA is a voluntary non-profit organization that is hosted by, and operates from, the Help Center in Jeddah. It is the official representative for Saudi Arabia of VSA arts International, an affiliate of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. VSA arts International have 66 representatives around the world. VSA arts-KSA was launched in 1994 and over the past nine years, it has implemented and participated in more than 80 art projects at the local, pan-Arab and international levels. Its mission is to offer visual and performing arts to people with special needs in order to develop their learning skills and enhance their quality of life.
Should the Mobile Arts Exhibitions here prove a success, VSA arts-KSA will explore possibilities to exhibit the paintings in European countries that have VSA arts representing offices. “The Help Center is participating with four paintings and each painting is a group project by children,” said Reem Gazzaz.
Seven children from the Help Center have also recently participated in the International Arts and Culture 2003 festival held in South Africa where they performed ardha, a traditional Saudi dance.
