JEDDAH, 10 April 2008 — Winners of an arts competition for disabled children — between the ages of eight and 18 from the Kingdom, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE — were awarded prizes yesterday at the Help Center in Jeddah.
VSA arts-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia held its fourth festival, entitled “Talents of the Desert...Springs of Art and Creativity,” from April 8 to 10 at the center. The festival included seminars, workshops and competitions all related to art.
“I believe in tapping into our history and using the resources available in our environment to enrich the lives of people today. That’s where the festival’s theme came from,” said Maha Juffali, executive director of VSA arts-KSA.
Quoting Aristotle, she said the aim of art is to represent the inner significance of things and not just their exteriors.
Over the past three months, 172 budding young artists from across the Gulf sent entries to the competition in nine categories: fine arts, music, rhythm, photography, production, handicrafts, drama, literature and poetry.
VSA arts-KSA further segmented the artwork received into three age groups: 8-12, 13-18 and over-18. An independent panel of judges, including prominent individuals, selected one winning artist from each category and age group.
“This is a valuable art treasure,” said artist and judge Sawsan Hilal. “It was truly inspiring to see all the entries. Every young person with a disability deserves access to high quality art learning experiences.”
The audience gave a round of applause to a group of Help Center rappers who performed on stage and won the best performance within the 13-18 age group. Abdul Aziz Al-Musbah from Kuwait, winner of a music award, played a musical composition live and Ma’assoumah from Oman recited her winning poem.
VSA arts-KSA, a voluntary arts program for people of all ages with any type of disability, has been hosted and managed by the Help Center since 1994. It is the official representative of VSA arts-International, an affiliate of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
Over the past 14 years, VSA arts-KSA has developed and participated in over 100 projects at the local, regional and international levels.
