Egypt’s Cultural Development Fund is to resume the two-year Jameel House of Traditional Arts programme in Cairo’s Fustat district, local media reported on Wednesday.
The programme was launched in 2009, by the Cultural Development Fund of Egypt and The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, as a centre for the study of traditional arts and the preservation of heritage.
Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the programme has rescheduled its course in order to preserve public health. The new schedule includes dividing the students into two groups during the practical sessions, with each group attending the classes for three days per week. The sessions will also be held in open areas, while taking all the preventive measures against the coronavirus.
Theoretical lectures will be recorded and presented to the students in limited groups, while the graduation projects are expected to be evaluated at the end of September.
The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, which boasts some of the most famous professors of design and heritage arts, is one of the most important worldwide for supporting traditional crafts and heritage arts.
The Art Jameel programme includes the study of drawing skills and colour harmony, ceramics, glass and crafts, in addition to veneer woodworking and metalwork.
Art Jameel’s focuses on preserving cultural heritage in Egypt, including traditional arts, and aims to develop the students’ abilities to apply the foundational skills they learn during the programme to both contemporary design and restoration.
Its current initiatives include running heritage institutes and restoration programmes, in addition to a broad range of arts and educational initiatives for all ages. The organisation’s programmes foster the role of the arts in building open, connected communities.
